Do You Ever Wonder How Different It Could Be?
by Cae-Leigh Anne
Summary: What if Adrian took off after Rose broke his heart by cheating on him with Dimitri, what if he had a relationship with a human while he was gone and a child was the result of it? A twist on my other story 'My Best Mistake'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was just an idea that I had floating around my head as my other story 'My Best Mistake' draws closer to an end. I always wondered how different Dri's life will be if she had grown up with Adrian instead of being found when she was 15.**

 **For those of you who have read 'My Best Mistake' I know there are different characters because Dri was meant to graduate the year above the rest of her friends (refer to Chapter 57) but they placed her in the freshman class in hopes that having her start from there will be easier on her in terms of her education but she has no leeway in this story, she will treated as everyone else and everyone's favourite Greek will definitely be in this story don't worry. There may also be a few differences throughout the story to make it different from my other one.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't anything that comes from the wonderful work of Richelle Mead.**

 **Chapter 1**

Adrian POV

 _Adrian,_

 _I don't know if you remember me but my name is Ashleigh Monroe and I was the girl you spent that wild summer in Melbourne Australia with. The summer began in 2011 and ended in 2012, I met you at the Upside Down Dog. Originally you said you were only staying for a week or two but something about me drew you in and you spent the rest of the summer in Melbourne._

 _If you are reading this then it means something has happened to me, what you are about to read was something I had hoped to tell you in person._

 _I'm writing this in July 2012 and I am currently six months pregnant, I don't request anything from you other than allowing you to have the knowledge that I was pregnant with your child, a girl in fact and I hope to name her Adrianna as well as giving her your last name instead of my with the hope that one day you can find her._

 _If no letters follow this one then it means something went wrong when I was giving birth to her but I had a will laid out stating what her name would be and what should happen to her as well as making sure the detective I hired to find you continued to look for you. I was told something could go wrong when it was time to give birth but I couldn't stop the pregnancy, it was too late by then._

 _I do hope you will take this knowledge and get to know your daughter, she deserves to know her father or even one of her mother's friends if that is all you can be to her._

 _I hope you do the right thing by her but I can understand if it is too late when you read this and she doesn't mean anything to you._

 _If this reaches you too late to do anything I am awfully sorry I couldn't find you sooner but I tried as hard as I could._

 _The memories I have of the summer we spent together were amazing and I wouldn't give them or my unborn daughter up for anything._

 _Adrian, you were my best mistake._

 _Love_

 _Ashleigh_

I sat there staring at the letter for who knows how long, I remembered that summer I spent in Australia, I had taken off not long after Rose and been let of the hook for the murder of my Great Aunt. It was too much, a family member being killed and the girl I believed I loved had cheated on me with her ex dead undead boyfriend.

What drew me in was how different but yet similar she was to Rose, I was hurting and she was able to make the pain go away. I had used compulsion on her to make her forget about my fangs when she did in fact see them, I made her believe I was human like her. I never once fed on her, in fact I made friends with other Moroi in the city and they helped me locate Feeders.

But if this letter was true and the child that Ashleigh mentioned was mine meant that I had a five year old daughter living somewhere in the world. Not just that, she was a dhampir, half human half Moroi. These days they were only conceived by the means of Moroi having sex with dhampirs and for some strange reason they come out half and half like if a Moroi had sex with a human.

Moroi is what I am, a vampire that needs to feed off humans drinking their blood to survive. I don't kill humans for the blood though, if I did it would make me a Strigoi. A Strigoi is everything evil in this world and there were many differences between us, the one mains being that Strigoi couldn't go out into the sun and that the Moroi could harness magic.

Moroi could control one of the five different elements, Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit. Spirit is what I could control and it wasn't as straight forward as the other four, there were differences between each Spirit user and the side-effects of the magic were dangerous and if we weren't careful something could seriously go wrong.

Spirit was rare amongst Moroi but I wasn't alone, a close friend of mine Vasilisa Dragomir also known as Lissa or Queen to most of our kind was also a Spirit user and when we could we tried to work together in hopes of finding out what made us so different as well as finding others out there.

Dhampirs were made originally by Moroi and humans having children together but over the years it was just dhampirs and Moroi producing children and they came exactly half and half. Dhampirs received the good qualities from both species, they received the speed and strength from the humans while received good health and senses from the Moroi blood in their system.

Dhampirs were trained during their education so after graduation they could become Guardians that help protect the Moroi from the Strigoi since that was their favourite food source. Dhampirs were trained hard so they could even stand a chance against them and most of the time they did come out on top but not always and it was why our races were slowly being killed off by the Strigoi.

It didn't take long after that for me to take off to Australia, I had only received the one letter which meant my daughter was being raised by someone other than myself or Ashleigh and I couldn't take that. It didn't matter if she was a dhampir, my wife and the love of my life Ellie was currently pregnant and I couldn't imagine that child being raised by anyone else.

It didn't matter what I was like when I was younger, I could never imagine myself leaving some girl to struggle with having to raise a dhampir child I would have helped and Ellie would have loved me even more for it.

Attached to the letter was an address in Melbourne, Australia and I assumed it was where Adrianna was. I hated leaving Ellie alone while she was pregnant but she understood why I had to do this, why I had to fly to Australia and claim Adrianna. I couldn't let Adrianna continue to grow up in Australia without me and worrying over what her life has been like.

I made it to Australia as quick as possible and it was with thanks to Lissa giving me permission to take one of the private jets. My two Guardians Shane and Alex came out with me, normally Alex was rostered in on the Courts schedule since I didn't need him around while I was living at Court while Shane was hand if I needed him but while Ellie had been pregnant and I wasn't needed at St Vladimir's where I was teaching Spirit to other Spirit users I had been spending more and more time at home with her and Shane had also been rostered in.

I'm glad that they were able to come with me and their shifts were able to be covered so we could do this, I wouldn't be allowed to head out to Australia by myself and it didn't matter if there weren't many records of Strigoi here or not.

When I got out of the car I starred at the house, it made me worry that this would be wrong. It was just a house, would I be uprooting Adrian from a home where she is cared and loved for by an amazing couple or would I be saving her from a horrible life?

I walked up and ran the doorbell and patiently waited for it to open. It opened and I could hear many children run around yelling and screaming, I was confused but standing in front of was what looked like a pleasant lady and she had a smile on her face.

"Hello can I help you?"

"Hello, I do hope so. I received word that I have a daughter and she was living here, my name is Adrian Ivashkov"

"Oh of course, of course come in I know who exactly you are talking about. I would recognise those eyes anywhere" that got me, I assumed Adrianna would have Ashleigh's eyes instead of mine. No dhampir being born of Ivashkov blood had come out with the bright emerald green eyes that we had as a trait amongst our family members. "By the way my name is Corrine Reyonalds" I nodded at her and followed her throughout the house while Shane and Alex stayed outside.

We eventually stopped in a room and a small girl was sitting in a bay window looking out it completely ignoring the rest of the other children and ignoring our presence. Without seeing her face I instantly recognised her hair colour as my own but it wasn't until I focused on her using Spirit and seeing her aura that I was shocked, the normal gold colour I associated with other Spirit users was in hers, it wasn't anywhere near as bright as Lissa's but it was still there and it was enough to concern me. The rest of her aura was normal, she maybe a little scared but I just hoped it wasn't because she wasn't safe here.

"Adrianna sweetie why aren't you playing with the other children" Corrine spoke and Adrianna shook her head before turning around and looking at us.

I looked at her taking in her large doe like eyes and couldn't believe it when they were the bright emerald green associated with the Ivashkov's, along with her gold aura and the emerald eyes I needed to work out why she was different. I had this strong urge to protect her, looking at her I had this feeling that she was mine. The hair colour and eyes helped as well seeing many facial features that I recognised that belonged to Ashleigh.

"I'm waiting for nonna and nonno to come find me, they've been gone for so long" my heart broke as her eyes welled up before looking back out the window.

Adrianna didn't say anything else and Corrine got my attention to follow her into the other room, we stopped in the kitchen as she put the kettle on.

"How long has she been here?" I questioned as I took a seat at the kitchen table

"Only a week, I was told her mother died during child birth and she was left in the care of her grandparents while I was told nothing about her father. A week ago her grandparents were on their way to pick her up from kindergarten when a drunk driver t-boned the car, I was told her grandmother died on the scene taking most of the force while her grandfather died not much later during surgery. Child services brought her here because most of the other children in here are around her age but she won't play with them, she keeps thinking her grandparents are going to come collect her"

"So she grew up with family until then?"

"Yes I believe so, I haven't been given much on her. That is all I know, why are you here now after five years?" I looked at her trying to work out how to even word this.

"If you didn't realise I'm American and I was in Australia trying to get away from my problems at home, I met Ashleigh and we didn't think anything would come out of it but Adrianna is here. I didn't know about Adrianna existing until a few days ago when a letter turned up. Ashleigh and I didn't really talk much about ourselves except our names"

"That is fair enough to believe, I'm assuming you are here to collect her?" I nodded at her not knowing how this would go. "There are two possibilities, a DNA test to prove that you are her father and you can take her no questions asked or the other one will be you go through the proper adoption channels to take her just like everyone else who comes here to adopt children"

In the end I went with the DNA, if she wasn't my actual daughter then she wouldn't be of use in my community. She would be abused as a human and a feeder and I didn't want that for anyone.

In the end Adrianna turned out to be mine and it didn't take long for Corrine to let her come with me but all she questioned was if I was taking her to see nonna and nonno and I didn't even know how to explain that they were dead and weren't coming back. How do you tell a five year old that her grandparents are dead?

"No, no plane" Adrianna pulled her hand out of mine and stopped walking.

Up until this point she had easily come with me, I think she assumed I was taking her to see her grandparents instead of a foreign country. I looked at her and she was shaking her head, I was at a complete loss of what to say.

"Adrianna do you know who I am?" I kneeled down so we were eye level, Shane looked at me and I knew what he was saying, we had to be on the plane soon to head back.

She nodded at me. "Corrine said you were my daddy and you were taking me home"

"Yes I'm taking you to my home"

"No, nonna and nonno"

"I'm sorry but somethings happened to them and they can't look after to you anymore, I'm here to take you home with me"

"What do you mean they can't look after me?" her eyes welled up before she hung her head and again I was at a loss, I hated this feeling and knew I didn't want to see my next child cry like this.

"They were badly injured, I promise you will be safe with me and you will be loved" she nodded before walking to where Shane and Alex were standing.

Adrianna hadn't questioned who they were, she assumed they were family. I understood that she was in a foster home and had seen a couple of the children be adopted and knew that some of them come and went and it was only a week she was there.

I watched as Adrianna got on the plane before curling up in one of the seats and looking out the window not saying anything. I hoped I could this flight to talk to her but it didn't take long for her to fall asleep and I had lost the chance.

Adrianna had been at Court for a month and most of the time she had stayed silent, I still hadn't told her the truth about who she was and who I was since I didn't know how and Lissa was as much at a loss as what I was about her aura.

"I honestly don't know Adrian, I haven't seen anything like it" Lissa spoke, we were both standing in the kitchen looking out the window where Adrianna was playing with Rose and Dimitri.

I don't know if it was because Rose and Dimitri were both dhampirs and she felt something different with them then she did compared to the rest of us but she seemed to be more at ease with Rose and Dimitri and I knew the two of them were using Adrianna as a way to fill the void of them not being able to have their own child.

We tried to help them along the way with the use of Spirit but nothing seemed to work and in the end none of us could deal with the pain of them being unsuccessful so we stopped trying to help Rose fall pregnant, we all agreed it was better that way in the end.

"It doesn't make sense, I'm worried for what it means for her"

"Adrian, she is healthy maybe it is nothing. Maybe it is just the Spirit from you coming through, for now we need focus on telling her the truth before something happens to scare her" I nodded at Lissa knowing she was right.

I needed to tell Adrianna that vampires were real and she was half one and what her future entailed for her considering in a couple of months she would be heading to one of the academies for her education.

I followed Lissa outside with the idea of telling her everything now. "Adrianna" I called out and she turned around to face me with a large grin on her face, I was glad to see her happy like this and I didn't want to think about how all of this was going change her. "Come sit down, we need to talk" she nodded before running over and taking a seat at the table with Lissa and I was thankful when Rose and Dimitri came over knowing they would be off help being dhampirs themselves.

 _15 years later_

Adrianna POV

Before junior year was let out we were asked to describe our lives and what we enjoyed about it the most, I didn't even know where to begin that question. I didn't know what the teacher expected me to say, my life wasn't perfect in fact it was so far from perfect that I didn't even know what perfect was but let me back up a bit.

My name is Adrianna Ivashkov and I'm a dhampir, half vampire half human and before you even begin to question no I don't drink blood.

There is something about me that my dad can't work out, my aura. Spirit users don't tend to have the same abilities within controlling the element, dad's best ability seems to be dream walking and aura reading even though I don't think he uses either of them anymore whereas the Queen's best ability is her healing but both of them can read auras and what stumps them about mine is the gold that is present. Everyone has their own individual aura, the gold like colour is usually only present in Spirit users but some reason it is in mine. Dad has stated that it is nowhere as bright or large as the Queens and she shares the same thing comparing mine to dads. Dad says that even though there is other colours present and take over my aura the gold is still visible in the back.

Now aside from the fact that I am a dhampir I am different among my people, my last name isn't something you hear among dhampirs. The Ivashkov's are a part of the Moroi royal families, you see my dad left his friends and family behind after his ex-girlfriend broke his heart and met my mother. They didn't plan on having me but yet here I am anyway.

My mother is completely human, something that doesn't happen anymore. Centuries ago the Moroi and dhampirs had to distance themselves from the humans because they were expecting too much from us.

So aside from me having a royal last name, a human mother I also have something else that stands out. My incredibly bright emerald green eyes, something I inherited from my father which also happens to be something that is only seen in the Moroi Ivashkov's.

My mother died while giving birth to me and I was left with my grandparents and had no idea as to who my father was. When I was five my grandparents were killed in a car crash by a drunk driver, I was placed in a foster home for a about a week and it was then that my father turned up. All that was needed was a DNA test to prove I was his and then he took me to America where he lived and introduced me into the world that I then proceeded to grow up in.

My dad had married a women named Ellie and she was the best replacement for a mother anyone could have asked for and I had two incredibly annoying brothers in the world called Matthew and Nathaniel or Nate as he preferred.

You may think my world is full of adventures and mystery but it really isn't, I attend high school just like everyone else with a slight difference. My education involved training me to be able to one day to become a Guardian to help defend the Moroi population from the Strigoi, even though the Strigoi happily fed from humans they preferred Moroi and dhampir. Strigoi were incredibly strong and fast and we needed the training to be able to even come close to them.

It didn't matter if the Moroi could harness magic, they still weren't strong enough to compete against the Strigoi and it's where we came in. We gave our lives to protect theirs, we have this saying 'They come first'. Even though I grew up in this world I'm unsure about that, if they were my friends then I would die protecting them but a complete stranger I wasn't too sure about.

Senior year was starting tomorrow and I was currently breaking curfew by sitting out in a clearing enjoying the sun, soon enough the weather will start to change and I won't be able to keep enjoying the heat like this.

"Ivashkov" I groaned at hearing the Greek accent that belonged to my incredibly hot mentor.

Nikolaus Anastas started at St Vladimir's at the beginning of sophomore year and was still here, every single one of the girls in my now senior class would want nothing but be able to have sex with him and I was definitely included in that but there was something different about him almost like he was harbouring a secret. I only ever seemed to see him talking to a couple of the other Guardians close to his age, Guardian Tanner and Guardian Todd.

During junior year we get assigned mentor's to help us through the last of our education to make sure we make it graduation because they need as many Guardians out in the world as possible. Anastas was my mentor while Guardian Todd happened to mentor one of my best friends Damon Henderson while Guardian Tanner mentored the other one Brianna Grayson.

Brianna and I became best friends once I joined in their classes, I can't even remember what brought us together for all I know it could have been the long similar names we were both meant to suffer with but either way we got on incredibly well straight away and we latched onto Damon when we were all 12, he had transferred from one of the academies in England and we wanted him as our friend just for his accent.

Damon turned out to be just like Bri and I and it was that that solidified our friendship and then when we moved up to the senior campus that was when we all became best friends due to our partying and behavioural issues.

"Anastas" I flashed him a smile as I stretched out my legs, a fair number of the male novices in my senior class have made comments on my legs in the past and I used it to my advantage and right now I had caught him eyeing them causing my smile to turn into a smirk.

"You're breaking curfew"

"Oh I didn't realise, I thought that all starts once classes begin, you know tomorrow?" I smiled innocently at him hoping he will believe but he never did, he always saw through my lies and I didn't understand how he did.

"Nope, it begins the moment you step foot on the grounds. Come on let's get you back to your dorm"

"Aw but I'm enjoying the sun and first and second period is cancelled in the morning"

"Yes because there is a whole school assembly, surely you know the Queen is addressing you and the rest of the students"

Yes our Queen, Vasilisa Dragomir or Lissa as I refer to her. She is incredibly close with my father therefor making the two of our families incredibly close, her Guardian was the famous Rose Hathaway while Lissa's husband Christian Ozera had Dimitri Belikov as his own Guardian. Rose and Dimitri were married but didn't have any children since dhampirs cannot have children together for some strange genetic reason. Both Rose and Dimitri were the two people I trusted the most in the world, whenever I had concerns or was arguing with my dad I went to them. Dad and I had clashing personalities and we were regularly arguing, in fact during the summer I spent more time at Rose and Dimitri's then I did at my own home.

"Yes I did know the Queen is addressing us tomorrow, something about a new year and a fresh start and she can't wait to see all the seniors at Court the following summer" I rolled my eyes having already heard the speech.

Everyone who was an adult in my life at Court wanted me to try and behave this year but it wouldn't happen. I was too busy partying and breaking rules to even consider staying out of the trouble, the only thing that kept me out of a huge amount of trouble with everyone was the fact that I was the top of my class and word was that there was a huge gap between me and who was in second but I didn't let it get to my head, I still trained as hard as ever because some people believed that me having a human mother was a disadvantage and I wanted to prove them wrong.

"Are you even planning on staying at out of trouble this year, it is your senior year" I grinned at him as he sat down beside me, him sitting down beside me was always a good sign.

"Where is the fun in that?"

"Just no more parties close to the boundaries"

"Aw is this you showing you care?" I titled my head and smiled at him, half surprised that he cared and half remembering our last party.

The party was huge, it was like this massive blow out between the juniors before senior year started. I think nearly everyone in the junior class was in attendance, even some of the nerdier students but it was amazing and nobody cared. The one thing that didn't help was its location, it was in this huge clearing by the boundaries that was usually out of bounds to the students. It got busted up by the Guardians and the following morning Brianna, Damon and I were forced to run laps on the track while incredibly hung over.

I watched as Anastas shook his head at me with a small smile on his face, our student mentor relationship was a lot better than some of the other students and I was grateful since it allowed us to have moments like this. I knew there was a risk of getting to close to a mentor and I grew up watching Rose and Dimitri to this day still deal with problems from a small group of people about how their relationship started.

"I care enough to make sure you don't get in a lot of trouble and get expelled, your family wouldn't be happy about that" a dark look crossed my face as I turned away from him and I heard him let out a sigh.

There had been a couple of moments when the two of us and my dad and had been requested to the Headmistresses' office for whatever I had been in trouble for at the time. Normally when I was in trouble Alberta either handled it or as of last year passed my punishment onto Anastas to deal with.

The rare occasions I had been in the Headmistresses' office it always led to dad and I arguing on the way out, I hated that he was a teacher at my school it meant he heard everything little thing I did wrong, if I talked back to a teacher in class he heard, if I was late to class he heard, if I skipped a class he heard. Hell there were moments when I was busted making out with another student dad heard and chewed me out for it.

Yes I am grateful that my dad turned up when he did because who knows what my life could have been like had I grown up in foster care for the rest of my life. Don't get me wrong I love my dad and wouldn't want anything to happen to him but there were moments I wish I had a bit more space like the rest of my friends.

"Right my family…." I muttered softly

"No matter how much you and your dad fight I'm sure he loves you" I looked over at him, I didn't know what to say in reply.

It was rare when we had moments like this and when we did it was odd, I didn't know what to expect or say. I always made jokes about him caring, we both knew nothing would ever happen between us because it wasn't allowed he was a teacher and I was a student but when it was like these, it seemed like he cared and I didn't understand why or how?

"Shouldn't I be going back to my dorm?" I stood up and looked at him hoping he would help me sneak back in.

When he caught me out here I didn't usually get in trouble, it was only when other Guardians caught me out of my dorm after curfew. "Yes you should, come on" he stood up and led the way back to the dorm.

 **A/N: Please review and let me know what you all think and as to if I should continue writing this or not.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Adrianna POV

"BRI!" I squealed as I entered the gym to find her standing there stretching out her muscles.

Bri didn't say anything as she ran over to me and threw her arms around my neck, I happily hugged her back. I had missed her immensely during summer break and I hated that she didn't live at Court with me. There were only two dhampirs that lived at Court that were close to my age, I think their names were Emily and Stefan but they were in the year below me while everyone else was Moroi.

Bri lived in one of the smaller dhampir communities not far from the academy, she actually lived with her aunt while her mother was the one that was a Guardian. The relationship Bri had with her mother was tense and that was putting it lightly, I would need an extra hand or two to count the amount of times Bri had been in my dorm in tears because of another fight she had with her mum.

Bri had never said so but there were moments when I was worried that she was jealous about my family situation, I knew who my father is and who my mother had been which was another rarity amongst dhampirs. Bri had spent some time with me and my family at Court during breaks and had seen us all together, I might not have grown up with my mother but I had Ellie and I treated her as such.

"Dri how was your summer?" I let out a sigh of relief when she finally spoke using the nickname I preferred.

When Damon first moved to the academy the way he pronounced my name gave me a change in nicknames, he was pronouncing it 'Aid-ri-an-ah' instead of 'A-dri-an-ah' and everyone begun calling me Aid instead of Dri. I don't know and I can't explain why but the nickname Aid didn't sit right with me, it didn't sit that right I had even taught Damon how to pronounce my name properly so everyone would drop the unsettling nickname.

"Well let's just say I spent more time with Rose and Dimitri then my own family" I spoke with a bitter tone and Bri instantly picked up that I didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm so jealous, Dimitri is incredibly hot for his age" I pulled a face at Bri and all she did was laugh. To me Dimitri was another father and I did not see him that way and we regularly had this argument.

"Don't start on this again, not this early in the morning" I gave her a slight shove. "Where is Damon anyway?"

"No clue, that kid is normally here before both of us"

Bri was right, there was a reason why the three of us were the top of our class and it was because of our own training. We put in more extra training than anyone else, we had early morning sessions before breakfast and afternoon sessions once classes were finished. We only came up with this idea because Rose told us that it was those sessions that allowed her to catch up to her classmates after having two years off, we figured it would give us an advantage. I had an extra advantage on top of Damon and Bri and that was Rose and Dimitri. Every chance I got I trained with them, during breaks I was in the Guardians gym with them training and when they came out to the Academy I grabbed them and dragged them to the gym to train. This year I hoped to get the same with Anastas since it was rumoured he was just as good.

"I'm sorry I'm late" Bri and I both grinned at the sound of the English accent, we spun around and came face to face with Damon.

Bri ran over and hugged Damon while I stood there taking in my two best friends, Damon didn't live near any of us during breaks. He lived with his grandmother in Chicago, he said it was boring but I would give anything to be away from Court and see a large city like that.

Damon had dark hair with bright blue eyes and his height towered over both Bri and I while Bri had deep red auburn hair with hazel eyes. All three of us had tanned complexions that was a mix our spending too much time in the sun and our parents, while Bri and I both had curves that a lot of the guys were constantly ogling. There weren't many female dhampirs at St Vladimir's so having females with curves like ours were rare, Moroi's were generally tall and slim something similar to that of a supermodel.

"My, my you two look as lovely as ever" Damon grinned at us and I rolled my eyes.

Damon had been like this flirting with the two of us ever since we both hit puberty, most of the time we just ignored but there were moments when the confidence boost was what we exactly needed. I eventually went over and joined them for the group hug.

After that we made our way through the morning sparring against each other while catching up on our summers, turns out theirs were just as interesting as they usually were which meant nothing interesting happened.

When we finally made it to breakfast I was annoyed to find that Stephanie Collins had joined us at our table. I had nothing against Stephanie, it was more she had something against me. Bri and I didn't exactly get along with the rest of the girls in the senior class, we were all extremely competitive and they didn't like that Bri and I had better grades then them.

Gabi and Logan were Stephanie's two best friends, Gabi and Logan were a little bit hopeless but they would still most likely graduate at the end of the year while Stephanie was much better than the two of them at both our theory and practical classes. Stephanie hated that both Bri and I were doing better than her in class and she couldn't work out why but Bri and I knew it was because of all the time we spent in the time gym, if it wasn't for Rose's advice on spending as much time as we could in the gym we wouldn't be so far ahead.

"Collins" I spoke as I sat down with my breakfast

"Ivashkov" she replied and went back to her conversation with Gabi and Logan.

I was still confused as to why those three were sitting at our table, our senior class was spilt into smaller groups of friends and we had our own tables but it wasn't until Josh came over and sat down that I realised it.

"Morning babe" Josh spoke before he leaned over and kissed Stephanie's cheek.

At some point over the summer Josh and Stephanie must have started dating which was weird considering most of the novices didn't date, they just had sex with each other. I shared a look with Bri and she was as shocked as I was. Josh was Damon's guy best friend, there were moments when Damon needed a guys' advice and we understood and that was where Josh came in.

I looked around ignoring the kissy face Stephanie was sending Josh trying not to be sick in hopes that Izzy and Eric were on their way in. Izzy or Isabella Conta was a member of one of the royal Moroi families and Eric was a part of the Zeklos' royal family. The two of them had been dating since forever, their parents are best friends and growing up everyone believed the two of them would begin dating and when they did no one was shocked.

Normally trailing behind Izzy and Eric were Elliot and his twin sister Caroline, Elliot and Caroline weren't a part of a royal and had it harder than Izzy and Eric. Their parents worked for Eric's parents doing the cooking, cleaning any other household chores that was needed to be and as such the four of them grew up as friends. They became a part of our friend group one when I was in a class without either Bri, Damon or Josh, they had an empty seat at their table so I joined them and the rest was history.

I was met with an elbow to ribs and I turned to glare at Bri but she was pointing in the direction of where the feeders were housed. I assumed she noticed the four of them enter the room.

Feeders were humans who willingly subjected to being bitten allowing Moroi to feed, it was said that the bite of a Moroi was addictive while the bite of a Strigoi was even more addictive but that wasn't something I wanted to think of again anytime soon.

It didn't take long for them to come out and join us and I couldn't help but laugh at how shocked they were at seeing Stephanie and her friends sitting at our table, I'm just glad the table was big enough for them fit with us.

"Will someone tell me what I'm missing obviously missing here?" Izzy spoke, Izzy was stunningly beautiful with blonde hair and these violet eyes that seemed to be a trait amongst the Conta's like Ivashkov's had emerald green eyes, the Dragomir's had pale jade eyes and the Ozera's had ice blue eyes.

Eric had black hair and brown eyes which was weird, it seemed as though not all of the royal families had eye colour traits since brown eyes were as common as brown hair. While Caroline and Elliot both had light brown hair and hazel eyes.

"It appears Josh and Stephanie are dating" Damon spoke as if he didn't really care and it made me wonder if he actually knew the truth about the relationship.

Our Moroi friends were shocked and all four of the managed to spit out their juice, I was annoyed that I got hit but couldn't help but laugh at hearing Stephanie, Gabi and Logan squeal at being covered with spit juice.

"I have to shower, babe are you coming back to the dorms with us" Stephanie spoke while placing a hand on Josh's chest.

"Nah I'm still eating" he brushed her off and I was internally gloating at the look on her face, he wasn't as into her as she was into him.

"Fine then" Stephanie huffed in response. "Come on girls" the two of them quickly got up and rushed after Stephanie.

"God I need to break up with her" Josh exclaimed as soon as the girls were gone and the rest of us burst out laughing. "It's not funny"

"Then why did you start dating her Josh"

"She's good in bed" he shrugged and it was such a guy response causing Damon to reach over and high five him while Bri and I just shook our heads at their response.

Both Josh and Stephanie stayed at the academy over breaks not having family to return too, I felt incredibly bad for Josh not having any family and there was a small part of me that felt bad for Stephanie too but it always went away when I realised the kind of person she was.

"So Aid…." My head snapped in Josh's direction and the glare I gave him caused him to flinch in response. "Sorry Dri, what is the deal with this meeting. They've never cancelled first and second period before"

"Yes because I'm the all-knowing one aren't I?"

"Well there is a rumour that the meeting involves the Queen talking to us and you are…" Josh started but I cut him off

"Practically related to the Queen, I know this Josh but it doesn't mean I know what she is wanting to talk about. I spent more time with Rose and Dimitri" at that sound of their names Josh's eyes lit up like crazy. Everyone idolized Rose and Dimitri and I could see why but yet I had only introduced Bri and Damon to them both for obvious reasons.

"Then even more of a reason you will know what the meeting is about" Izzy spoke and I groaned in response before placing my head on the table not wanting to hear any more about this.

My friends all knew about the close friendship between Lissa and my dad but they didn't really care, something about knowing it wouldn't work in my advantage after a rumour went around that someone overheard dad, Lissa and I getting into an argument after getting into trouble at one point. The rumour wasn't true since Lissa had never yelled at me for getting in trouble since it was normally dad doing the yelling.

I was grateful that my friends knew the rumour was fake since some of the other novices gave me grief about it, thinking I would either get the best placement or the placement I want whether it is good for me or my people.

The bell signalling the end of breakfast and it was time for us to collect our timetables before heading to our dorms to collect our things before coming back to the cafeteria which the teachers and Guardians will then begin transform it so it was more suited for a Queen.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed and set an alert for this story. It means a lot to know just how many of you are curious as to what I've got planned for this different life of Dri's.**

 **Amorsagirl** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me**

 **Jpitt** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you liked it and I will definitely be doing more of it so please stay tuned!**

 **MusicMeHi148** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are excited for this story, Emily will be in this story since her and Dri still know each other but for now she is more like a background character only appearing every now and then.**

 **Pollyanna** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love my other story, no it's fine everyone is allowed their own opinion and I've had other people say they are intrigued by this idea so I will be continuing it and hopefully you will enjoy it later on. As for other story ideas, I have one in works that is from Nikolaus' POV but at this point in time it is just an idea and as much as doing a story about Dri before Adrian found her would be good I'm just not comfortable writing about what happened between her and Michael.**

 **Gabergirl** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Guest** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you like the story, I will continue writing as long as people continue read/follow/review. I enjoyed making the villain someone who wasn't a Strigoi, it was different and fun but as for who and if there will be a villain please stay tuned as I'm hoping everyone will like my ideas and how the story is different between the other one.**

 **Khalessi43 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed it**

 **Khalessi43 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed it**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Adrianna POV

Blah, blah, blah was all I could think during Lissa's speech. It was something similar to what I received every year before I returned back St Vladimir's, make them proud, stay out of trouble and I knew not paying attention and sitting at the back messing around with Bri and Damon on each side wouldn't exactly keep me out of trouble.

One would think after the three of us causing trouble in classes they would stop placing the three of us together but here we are senior year and we shared nearly every single one of our classes. Izzy and Eric had theories that if they kept us together they could keep an eye on us more easily, I disagreed and it was then that Izzy suggested that maybe we should start paying attention to the Guardians in our classes in case they started placing our mentors in our class in hopes we will behaviour. It was a good idea and I was planning on seeing if she was right or not and I definitely wouldn't say no to see more of Anastas.

Lissa had left with Rose following not far behind her and it wasn't long before the rest of us were allowed to leave, the three of us stood up and stopped short of Anastas, Tanner and Todd all standing there watching us. Something told me that they had been watching us throughout the speech and we were about to get in trouble for whatever they deemed inappropriate.

I flashed them all a smile and I watched as Anastas tried to fight a smile, he shook his head before turning and leaving the hall but Tanner and Todd stayed that little bit longer before leaving us. We knew this wouldn't be a good sign but left and heading off towards class which just so happened to be a practical class.

"Something tells me those three are going to be in class" I spoke and they both looked at me before agreeing.

"I think something is telling you we are about to get beaten up in class" I laughed at Bri's comment but I agreed with her none the less.

"Most likely but why in front of the rest of the novices like this?" Damon piped in obviously not realising what it meant if we were to fight against them

"To set an example Damon, if we play up and get punished like that everyone will take notice of it and hopefully they will stay out of trouble as well" I shook my head at him, sometimes I wonder how he did so well in classes.

"Here I was hoping we could party this weekend" he grinned at both of us but we didn't say anything. Bri and I just walked off and looped our arms together ignoring Damon as we headed towards the gym.

When we entered the gym the sight we saw was something we were expecting, Anastas, Todd and Tanner were standing there waiting for us along with our usual teacher. Third and fourth period was essentially a double period, this year third period was weight and condition training while fourth period was combat techniques but it didn't always mean that the classes went in that order. There had been rumours from previous seniors that our timetables were done this way so while we weren't fighting we were on the weights, it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.

"You three up here" Anastas spoke and I could literally see some of the girls drool at the sound of his accent, yes don't get me wrong I love hearing him speak as long as he wasn't yelling at me and if he was a student instead of a teacher I would be amongst the other girls trying to get him to notice me.

Everyone turned and looked at the three of us knowing exactly who he was talking about, all the other novices hated that the three most troublesome students were also the top. The thing they didn't realise was that we enjoyed the punishment since most of the time it was laps, fights, weights anything physical to try and increase our ability but we always let on that we hated it and we enjoyed being lock in a classroom, I believe it's something you would call reverse psychology.

I walked up ahead of my friends having a feeling what was going to happen, as soon as I stepped foot on the mats Anastas made a grab for me but since I had been expecting this due to the fact that both Rose and Dimitri have tried this on numerous occasions and it followed the same way I had a feeling I would have to fight the three of them while Bri and Damon were forced to stay on the side lines until their turn.

I managed to position myself so I had a somewhat clear view of all three of them, I was able to block the punches when they came one as long as it was one at a time but it was then they group together and attacked me that way that I wasn't doing the best. I had heard Bri and Damon get yelled at a couple of times trying to come in help defend me but the Guardians didn't want that, they wanted to punish us separately.

I managed to get Tanner on the ground and he stepped of the mats making me realise that once they were down they were out which made me want to stay on my feet even longer. I wanted to prove I was number 1 for a reason.

Todd was next to go down leaving me with Anastas, I always hated fighting against Anastas. There was something about him that made him able to predict my movements, he was the reason I was trying so hard since I didn't want to be predictable I wanted to be able to get something over him.

The rest of the novices had been watching with curiosity since all of us loved a good fight between mentor's and novices since they met up at least once a week to spar, me wanting the advantage I was hoping to meet up with Anastas more than once a week.

I finally saw the opening I had been waiting for, his punch had become sloppy after I got a kick into his ribs earlier on and I was able to grab his wrist and spin him around before taking out his legs and pinning him to the ground.

I had a proud smile on my face as I had successfully pinned him to the ground and I didn't care that if the situation was different he would be able to use the differences in our body size and weight to easily flip us giving him the upper hand.

"Get off Ivashkov" my grin increased as he growled obviously annoyed with how this played out.

I climbed off him and held a hand out for him which he happily grabbed and I helped him up. "Well that didn't go as well I as hoped but either way the point still stands. You are all seniors, you just heard the Queens speech about behaving how Guardians should behave and if you mess up and get in trouble expect something like this, the worse the crime the worst the punishment. I know how many of you remember how much of a pain it is running laps while heavily hung over after very little sleep" Anastas spoke and there were a few sniggers through the novices as if they were remembering some of the times some of us had thrown up from the early morning runs.

"Already every one pair up and start on weights, hopefully every single one of you kept up with your training over summer" Guardian Gibbs, our teacher for these two periods spoke and everyone walked off towards the various weights and machines.

"Don't Bri and Damon get punished as well?" I spoke while looking at our three mentors they shared a look and I was not liking the smirk on Anastas' face.

"Nope, it was just the first one on the mat and you're just lucky" I pulled a face at Anastas and he just laughed before he left the gym completely while Tanner and Todd left and moved to the sides of the room to watch over us.

I watched as Anastas left the gym and something didn't look right, he was holding his hand on his side at a weird angel and I felt a pang of guilt knowing it was my fault. I rushed after him ignoring Gibbs attempt to call me back.

"Anastas!" I called out when I was outside, I watched as he stopped walking but he didn't turn around. I ran over and stopped in front of him, "Are you alright?"

"You should be in class Ivashkov"

"Something tells me I did more than cause you a few bruises" I went to reach out and touch his ribs but his other hand stopped me.

"I'm sure I'm fine, it's just all a little tight and slightly sore nothing for you to worry about head back inside"

"Come on let me get dad to look at you just in case something is broken"

"It isn't needed, get back inside" he growled but I didn't say anything, I just stood my ground and placed my hands on my hips. "You know skipping class will allow Grayson and Henderson to catch up"

"Word is I could skip a month and they will only just catch up" I grinned at him and the look on his face was shock, he must not have known that I knew I was so far ahead.

I guess growing up around the Queen and her royal guard who were among the best of the best I had access to other things people didn't, I was able to listen to their stories and ask question giving me the advantage over the other novices, sometimes receive information that other novices couldn't get a hold of.

"Should we really bug your dad? Doesn't he have students to teach?"

"No he has one student, Spencer Hasting" I smiled at Anastas

Spencer was a non-royal Moroi and he had specialized in Spirit and at the moment was dad's only student and the only reason he spent his time at the academy, when dad didn't have any students he spent his time at Court with everyone else.

Spencer was able to see auras just like dad and in fact it was that that proved he had specialised in Spirit, he saw my aura and made a comment on it and I took him straight to dad. Ever since that moment I had the nickname goldie from Spencer. The rest of Spencer's abilities were weird, he had the ability to place fake memories in someone's head and his telekinesis was incredible. He wasn't able to heal and even his dream walking was odd, it varied depending on his mood. If he was in a bad mood when he pulled you in it turned out to be a nightmare and he if he was in a good mood it was amazing and then there was the rare occasion where he was just like every other 17 year old male and I always wanted out of those dreams…

We entered the classroom where dad holds his Spirit classes and I grinned at the sight of Spencer sitting across from dad, I never understood what those two did in class so I stopped asking.

Spencer grinned at me before getting up and rushing over to me, "Long time no see babe" I smiled at him before he leaned down and kissed me.

Spencer Hasting was my amazing boyfriend of 18 months, the only reason I didn't see him this morning was because he normally skipped breakfast with the idea of quickly seeing a feeder being heading to class giving him the chance to sleep that little bit longer

We weren't even apart of the same friendship group before we started dating, it was just something that started off as a hook up at a party but of course it then turned to him being curious about me like everyone else. Except for once I was curious about him and let him stay around long enough for feelings to develop

We pulled apart when dad coughed, "What are you doing here Dri?" he questioned looking at both Anastas and I hoping I wasn't already in trouble.

"Babe what have you done now?" Spencer teased

"What makes you think I've done anything" I pouted at him and crossed my arms but he just laughed at me. "Fine, I may have broken some of Anastas' ribs and I felt bad so I brought him here, dad can you please have a look?"

"Only if you go back to class after this and Spencer won't be following you" I acted shocked at dad's claim but I knew if I left and Spencer was allowed to go to the bathroom we both would end up skipping class.

"Fine, please have a look" I pleaded with dad and he eventually came over and had a look at Anastas while Spencer moved around and wrapped his arms around my waist softly kissing the top of my head.

The two of us had plans for him to come visit during the summer but of course I had to go and get in trouble causing dad to change his mind about letting my boyfriend come and stay with us. It wasn't like he was going to be in my room or even the same house, we didn't have a spare room but Rose and Dimitri did so he was going to be staying at theirs and we all knew there was no way I could successfully sneak into their house.

"I missed you Dri" he whispered before softly kissing the spot behind my ear, I shivered slightly before pulling away.

I had three nicknames with Spence and they all meant different things, goldie was when he was in a playful mood, babe was just him being normal but he only seemed to use Dri when he was being affectionate like this.

I looked up at him and instantly knew the look on his face, I knew what he wanted but he wasn't going to get it right now and when the imagine popped into my head of the two of us having sex I glared at him but all he did was laugh. I knew the imagines he was placing were fake mainly because I didn't recognise the places.

"Stop it!" I yelled having enough of him teasing me like this causing dad and Anastas to look over at us

"What is Spencer doing now?" dad rolled his eyes having witnessed me yelling at Spence one too many times for placing things in my head

"Something he shouldn't be thinking about, I'm going back to class I'm assuming I will see you back there Anastas" it wasn't exactly a question as I turned and left not waiting for a response and I was still close enough that Spence was able to place another fake memory in my head, him standing there holding a bouquet of roses saying he was sorry.

I shook my heading hoping to get the image out but knowing it would only go away once I was far enough away from him.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewing, followed and favourite this story.**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are now following this story, I do hope you enjoy what I have planned for it.**

 **Shannon** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm you are enjoying this story**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved it and I cannot remember if I answered your question about shipping Adrian and Sydney, I do but don't as well.**

 **Khalessi43** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, of course Dri would talk to Rose and Dimitri, it's how I want their friendship to be. As for Dri not being friends with Emily and Stefan, they are sort of friends since the three of them all live at Court but at the academy they're not so much. Both Emily and Stefan do appear throughout the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Adrianna POV

"I'm sorry" I heard Spence speak softly before he sat down next to me, I looked up at him in shock.

It was lunch time and we normally sat with our own friends which suited me just fine, we both spent all our time at a boarding school so I could see him whenever I wanted and we both didn't want to be the people who ditched their friends for a boyfriend or girlfriend.

"What's he done now?" Bri spoke and I looked at her for a moment, before Spence sat down it was just the two of us since Damon and Josh had gotten distracted by some girl and our Moroi friends hadn't joined us yet.

"Placing inappropriate ideas in my head" I replied and Bri rolled her eyes

"Again?"

"Yes again" I looked up at Spence and narrowed my eyes

"I really am sorry Dri, I didn't mean for you to get angry at me it was just meant to be a bit of fun" his face softened, I shook my head before focusing back on my lunch.

Spence wrapped an arm around my shoulder and softly kissed my temple, when I didn't pull away nor say anything he got the hint that I was still annoyed but not annoyed enough to send him away.

"Spencer" Damon spoke with venom in his voice and I shot him a look.

Damon hasn't been Spencer's fan since the last New Years party, some of the senior Moroi had brought a Feeder along to the party things went too far and they had all gotten in trouble. Spencer had been at the party and had gotten in trouble for being involved in the incident with the Feeder but he said he didn't do anything to her and I trusted him, well that and I threatened some of the senior Moroi to tell me the truth otherwise they wouldn't end up with such pretty looking faces anymore it didn't take long for them to cave and tell me that Spencer wasn't involved but it wasn't enough for Damon. He was worried I was going to get hurt by Spencer and I was grateful he was looking out for me.

"Damon" Spence spoke with the same amount of venom and I elbowed him, I hated that Spencer and Damon didn't get along but they had their issues even before the New Years party.

"Are you two ever going to get along?" I questioned while looking between them both, I was surprised Damon took the seat across from Spence

"No" they both grumbled together and I let out a sigh before sharing a look with Bri.

I had on numerous occasions complained to Bri about the tense friendship between Damon and Spence and she said they were just being boys and they were immature but if they both cared about me they will put up with each and they do to a point.

There had been a couple of incidents when I had come across the two of them in a fist fight, Spence was a part of the Moroi body combat class and could hold his own against Damon to a certain point. They broke up the fight when I began yelling at them and I didn't speak to either of them for days, I haven't witnessed the two of them fighting since but there have been moments when they've both had injuries and it made me wonder if they were fighting again.

I pulled away from Spence and shrugged his arm off, he leaned over to try and kiss the side of my head but I moved to the side.

"Ouch someone is in the dog house" I looked up at the sound of Bas' voice and saw he had a massive smile on his face.

Sebastian Tarus, a royal Moroi, was Spence's best friend the two of them grew up together, it didn't matter if Spence wasn't a royal since him and his family were as good as. The Hasting's had money and power amongst the Moroi and sometimes that is all that matters to some people.

"Bugger off Bas" Spence grumbled

"Aww don't be like that Spence it's not my fault your smoking hot girlfriend no longer wants you, it's about time you realised she actually wants me" Bas winked at me and I couldn't help but laugh, Bas was a shameless flirt, he flirted with anything in a skirt but that was it, it never went any further.

My laughing caused Spence to look at me and he actually looked worried, "aw Spence you worry too much. You know Bas is a flirt" I leaned over and softly kissed his cheek.

"See Spence she isn't mad, come on we need to talk anyway" Bas ruffled Spence's hair and the look he received just caused him to laugh.

"I'll see you later?" I gave him a smile and he kissed my head before getting up and following Bas back to their usual table.

"What was that about Dri? He doesn't normally sit with us" Damon hissed as soon as Spence and Bas were out of ear shot and it earned him a whack across the head from Bri.

"Thanks Bri" I grinned at her and Damon looked annoyed.

It didn't take long for Josh, Stephanie and her lackeys to join us, I was beginning to wonder when Josh was going to break up with Stephanie like he said at breakfast and by the look on his face he was getting more and more frustrated with her as the day went on.

"Seriously Dri, I mean it out of concern. He doesn't sit with us, we all know you like your space and him spending most of the day with his friends is why you two have lasted so long" Damon spoke once he had moved into the empty spot beside me and I knew he was right.

I liked my space and I knew one day when I became a Guardian it would bug me having to be stuck with someone I either don't know, do know or can't stand for hours on end because I have to protect their life. Spence understood why I liked my space, he spent the day with his friends and we usually spent time together at night before curfew set in. It worked for me and I didn't feel suffocated, there were even moments with my friends where I just needed a break and they all knew when I locked myself in my dorm that I wanted to be alone, if my door was locked. It was different if my door was unlocked, it meant I wanted them to join me in here but I was too upset to ask.

Classes were over and I barely made it through the afternoon, the first day of classes were generally boring as the teachers droned on about what was expected of us for the year and being seniors it was even worse than previous years.

Our morning classes were generally split between dhampirs and Moroi while the afternoon classes were a mix of the two. I shared all of my afternoon classes with Bri while I shared at least three with the rest of my friends and I was grateful to see that the one class I didn't share with Damon I shared with Spence allowing us to sit together but I was annoyed when he kept placing fake memories in my head, it's what today seemed to be about.

I didn't know if I was more annoyed about him placing the fake memories in my head or the fact that he was using so much Spirit to do so. I knew how taxing Spirit can be on a person and I was worried something was going to happen to Spence.

I was sitting in my dorm room at my desk reading the email from my mother's lawyer, he had been keeping in touch with dad since he had taken me from the foster home and been in touch with me since I was 13 and old enough to understand what was going on. Apparently it was a part of my mother's will for the lawyer to check in with me regularly no matter who got custody of me.

His email was reminding me that my 18th birthday was coming up and I was able to gain access to everything that was left to me by both my mother and grandparents, I didn't know if I could do it. I had been just fine growing up with what dad could give me, I couldn't decide if I wanted access to something that was kept from me for a specific reason.

I heard my door open and just assumed it was Bri coming to check up on me since I left as soon as the last bell rang and headed towards the gym before coming back to my dorm before dinner.

It wasn't until a pair arms came around me and a kiss was placed on my head that I knew it was Spence that had come in here. "How did you sneak up here?"

"Easy enough, I've done it plenty of times" I looked up at him and gave him a smile but he was too busy looking at the screen, a frown appeared on his face.

"What?"

"Why are you in contact with a human?" he growled. Most of our race didn't communicate with humans for a specific reason and couldn't understand how some of us could but sometimes it was needed.

"It's the lawyer that has been looking after my mother and grandparents' estates until I turned 18, a part of their wills stated that they had to keep checking in with me to make sure I was fine. It is usually just an email or phone call every couple of months" I pulled away from him and closed my laptop before spinning around and looking at him.

"I'm sorry"

"Really? I've heard that a fair bit today and it's only the first day" I pulled a face at him and he let out a breath before running a hand through his hair.

"Babe" I shook my head at him not wanting to deal with this but he stepped closer to me and cupped my face. "Dri, I really am sorry. I didn't know you were in contact with the person that was in charge of your mother's estates. I get it, you're part human instead of part dhampir like the rest of the novices, I honestly thought you wouldn't have any connection to humans since you've been here with us for so long"

"And that's understandable but what about the rest of the day, you've used a lot of Spirit today. I worry about you Spence"

"You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine honestly and plus you're the one that is going to be risking their life soon enough. You mean everything to me Dri" I couldn't but smile at that comment and Spence grinned knowing I wasn't mad anymore.

Spence leaned his face closer to mine and softly kissed me and it didn't take long for it to heat up and the two of us moved to my bed.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you find Spencer interesting, I've been able to make a spin on some of things James can do as well as giving him some other things, Spencer is someone I've both loved and hated to write so I can't wait to see what you think further down the line.**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As you can see Spencer did shut his spirit hole and apologised for real, I'm glad you loved it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Adrianna POV

"Dri wake up!" I heard Bri yell but I all did was a mumble something that was meant to sound like fuck off before placing my pillow over my head and rolling over but all that resulted in was her pulling my blanket off me.

I opened my eyes and glared at her, I knew why she was doing this. Today was my 18th birthday but I didn't feel like celebrating much this year, I didn't know if it was the fact that I knew I could claim everything left to my from my mother's family or the fact that my mother wasn't here.

"Bugger off Bri"

"Oh come on you love me and this tradition" I shifted on my bed so Bri could lie down beside me.

It was tradition, for as long as I could remember we would wake up at the crack of dawn and head into each other's room and wake them up before getting them to open their presents. She was right though I did love this tradition and I was excited as to what this present was, Bri wasn't predictable with her presents sometimes it was things she knew I wanted or it was things she knew I would love.

"Where's my present?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed at me before leaning over my bed and pulling up a box.

I had seen boxes like this before, usually from Lissa when she was giving me fancy dresses and I just hoped Bri hadn't brought me a dress like Lissa normally did.

I opened the box and was shocked at just how bright the red dress was, "It will look amazing on you, it looks really good against our skin but it clashes with my hair" Bri spoke but I was still looking at the dress.

I pulled it out and noticed it was strapless and was most likely going to be incredibly short and knowing Bri tight as well, it was definitely something that the academy wouldn't accept at any of the dances.

"And where am I meant to where this?"

"Well….you didn't hear it from me but Damon and Josh have organised a surprise party for you. I figured you could do with a killer dress, something to cause all the boys to go crazy"

"Spence will go crazy seeing all those guys drooling over me"

"Who cares, it's your birthday you can do whatever you want" I looked at her and she winked causing me to laugh, I knew Spence wasn't going to react well to this.

"Is Spence even invited if Josh and Damon are organising it?"

"I made sure they invited Spencer don't worry about that" I smiled at her. "Come on try this dress on I want to see how killer it looks on you" I grinned before scrambling off my bed and getting changed.

"Holy shit…" I whispered as I stood in front of my mirror, Bri was right the dress did look incredible against my skin tone and it was definitely short and tight. I knew Spence would love to see me in this but also hate that other guys will be seeing me in this.

"I knew it would look amazing on you" Bri squealed in delight from my bed I turned and grinned at her.

"This is perfect, thank you Bri" I walked over and hugged her before getting changed and hanging the dress up.

"No problem what is your plan for the day?" today was Saturday and I loved that my birthday was on the weekend which meant I didn't have to worry about classes and it was an amazing feeling.

"Mum has flown out along with Rose and Dimitri, I'm going to spend the day with them in dad's suite even my brothers are coming up this end of the grounds" I had heard from Lissa earlier in the week that she couldn't come out here and neither could Christian but she could give up Rose and Dimitri for that day.

"When are you heading down there?"

"Dad wants me there for lunch, Damon said something about wanting to see me today as well and of course Spence wants to see me"

"Well aren't you little miss popular?" Bri teased and I laughed.

I ended up spending most of the morning before breakfast in my bed with Bri, it's usually what our mornings like these consisted off. There were moments when I got lost in my head and found myself imagine what my life would be like without Bri and I would be completely lost, she was my first friend in this world and she made everything stay up right.

I was heading towards the building that housed the Moroi teacher's suites and normally students weren't allowed but because my dad was a teacher I was generally allowed access. Someone reached out and made a grab for my arm and my Guardian instincts kicked in and my arm swung out to make a grab for them.

"Woah, babe it's just me" I heard Spence's voice as he ducked my arm.

"I'm sorry, you startled me"

"It's fine, how did you not hear me?" he stood up straight and wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my face against his chest.

"Lost in my thoughts" I mumbled against his and he pressed his lips against my head.

It was true, after breakfast I headed back to my dorm and opened my emails assuming there would be something from the lawyer but instead there was another one of the creepy emails I had been receiving on and off for the past twelve months.

 _Adrianna, remember I know what you are. No matter how hard you try you won't be safe forever and at some point you will be mine._

 _B._

They were always from the same person someone named B, and varied between what they said but the main thing in common was that they knew what I was and they wanted me, as for why they wanted me I had no idea and I was a little worried but aside from the emails nothing else had happened yet, in fact I hadn't had an email for months so I thought they had disappeared.

"Everything alright?"

"Everything is perfect" I looked up at him with a smile on my face hoping he wouldn't see through it. I was happy when he returned my smile before leaning down and giving me a soft kiss.

"Happy birthday babe"

"Thank you" I grinned as he pulled an arm away and put it in his pocket to pull out a small box.

75% of the gifts I received from Spence was jewellery, don't get me wrong I was a girl and loved receiving jewellery but it was getting to the point where I had so much of it and I knew I wasn't going to be able to wear much of it in the future.

I took the box from him and I twisted in his arms, he placed them around my waist before resting his chin on the top of my head as I opened the box. Inside was a simple chain with an opal gem attached, it was plain and simple something that Spence never gives me. They are usually more flashy then this and sometimes even had emerald gems which I detested receiving.

"Spence it's beautiful" I pulled it out and held it out to get a good look at it under the lamps surrounding us.

"Here I'll put it on" I let him grab the necklace and I pulled my hair aside letting him put the necklace on and I shivered as he ran his fingertips along my neck and exposed shoulders. "I know I always give you jewellery but I wanted you to have something that wasn't as flashy as you call them, I wanted you to have something plain and simple that you can still wear once you graduate"

I turned around and looked up at him, I couldn't believe he put this much thought into the present and I didn't have the heart to tell him I couldn't even wear this once I was a Guardian, it was too much of a risk. Something the Strigoi could use against me.

"It's perfect" I smiled as I leaned up to kiss him again and his arms wrapped tightly around my waist pulling me close against him.

"Adrianna" I pulled away and I couldn't believe it was Dimitri that had caught us like this. I knew from his voice that he was annoyed with what he was witnessing and the look on his face was even worse.

"Dimitri what are you doing here? I thought I was meeting you in dad's suite?" I flashed him a smile but his face didn't change.

"Don't play that act with me Adrianna" Dimitri spoke and I knew I was in trouble. Dimitri wasn't happy with the fact that I had a boyfriend as much as dad was but both mum and Rose had been the ones to keep them inline.

"I'm not playing anything Dimitri" I didn't drop my smile hoping to show I was just happy to see him, I didn't want to think what would happen if I left Dimitri alone with Spence.

"I'm just going to go, I will see you later babe" Spence leaned over and kissed my temple before turning.

"Run" Dimitri growled and Spence actually looked scared.

My smile finally dropped and I glared at Dimitri, I couldn't believe he threatened my boyfriend like that. I knew what he meant by run, I just hoped Spence didn't.

"Come on Adrianna"

"No, this is bullshit. You can't threaten him like that"

"I do as I want, you aren't old enough to date"

"No as of today I'm 18, doesn't that mean I'm an adult and come June I graduate and become a Guardian why can't I have fun until then? You can't blame Spence for the drop in my grades because there hasn't been one and I was getting in trouble long before the two of us started dating, Spence isn't a bad influence especially not in the way you and dad think he is" I glared at him before pushing past him heading straight towards dad's suite.

I stormed right in ignoring everyone and taking a seat on the couch, it wasn't long before Dimitri entered behind me. He looked at me but I didn't know what was written on his face, I just looked away from him and focused back on what Matt and Nate were playing.

"Heard you were caught with Spencer" Rose spoke but I didn't even acknowledge her, I didn't want to talk about it with her or anyone here. "Dri talk to me, don't shut me out again"

Rose asking me to not shut her out again is what got me, the last time I shut everyone out didn't end well for me.

I let out a breath before looking at Rose, "Dimitri threatened Spence. I was on my way here and Spence must have spotted me and he pulled me aside to give me my present, I was kissing him as a thank you and Dimitri spotted us like that"

"You know he doesn't like the idea of you dating"

"He doesn't like the idea that I'm dating Spence"

"Not at all, he doesn't like the idea that you are dating in general" I rolled my eyes and didn't say anything.

Rose didn't say anything after that taking the hint that I didn't want to talk about my relationship anymore, it also wasn't long until Dimitri walked back into the room. I looked up at him and he was carefully watching me, almost as if he expected me to snap at him.

"Dri I'm sorry" Rose got up and grabbed the attention of my brothers and left me alone with Dimitri.

I didn't know what more Dimitri could say on this subject, he didn't like that I was dating and I knew it. While waiting for him to speak my hand went to the necklace I always wore, dad had given it me before the start of freshman year. He said it was my mothers and he went to great lengths to get it from the lawyer since I wasn't allowed anything else of hers or my grandparents.

Dimitri said something in Russian and all the tension I had my body left as I leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes to listen to him.

I didn't understand a word of Russian, I didn't have the patience to learn it. For all I knew he said I like cotton candy and bubble baths but for some strange reason whenever Dimitri spoke in Russian he voice sounded soothing and my nerves disappeared.

Everyone said it came back to when I first arrived at Court, apparently I wasn't sleeping properly. What started it was one day when Dimitri was on the phone to his family in Russia speaking Russian and I instantly quietened and fell asleep ever since then Dimitri would talk to me in Russian and it soothed me, it stayed with me as the older I got and no one knew why it worked.

"I didn't mean to lose it like that, I just don't want to see you treated poorly by a Moroi"

"I've been with Spence for 18 months and nothing bad has happened, he treats me right Dimitri. He hasn't done anything to make me think otherwise"

"I still don't like it"

"I never expected you too, I just wanted you to accept it and be happy for me and if Spence did break my heart then I expected you to hurt him then" I finally opened my eyes and smiled at him and he had a small smile on his face knowing what I just said was true, if for some reason Spence did hurt me in any way he wouldn't be safe from either Rose or Dimitri.

We made it through lunch and everyone was asking how classes were going and I said they were fine but it was Matt and Nate who jumped up and down to explain the newest thing that had happened down their end of the grounds and I vaguely listened to their story not really wanting to pay attention since it was always the same thing. One of their friends did something stupid and they all thought it was hilarious.

Dad had a balcony on his fourth story suite and I was currently sitting on it, I had this thing about always wanting to be outside and there were moments when I preferred sitting out in the sun. It's how Anastas and I first begun talking, he caught me out of my dorm and sitting in the clearing and it didn't take him long to learn that I never did anything I just wanted fresh air and the sun.

"Are you alright?" dad's voice interrupted me from my thoughts but I didn't turn and face him

"I'm fine dad" he came over and sat down next to me without saying anything else.

Dad placed an envelope on my lap and I finally looked up at him and he could tell I was confused, I picked it up and waited for him to say something.

"It's your birthday present, open it" was all he said, I watched him for a moment before turning back to the envelope in my hands still completely confused about it.

All that was in the envelope were two plane tickets, to Melbourne Australia and now I was shocked. We both knew the moment I turned 18 I could claim everything left to me by my mother and grandparents but I just assumed the lawyer would come out here since I was at school 24/7 and wasn't allowed to leave the safety of the wards surrounding the grounds.

"I just assumed"

"That you wouldn't be allowed to go?" I nodded. "Originally we were going to get the lawyer out here and you would meet him in town but he wasn't able to come out here. Alberta said you've stayed out of trouble so far this year and your grades are still top of the class, she's allowing the weekend pass just for this. Most students get approved for leave for extreme circumstances and this classifies"

"But there's two tickets meaning you aren't coming with me, it means a Guardian is coming with me"

"Yes, Guardian Anastas is going with you"

"Of course he is" I let out a breath and slipped the tickets back in the envelope, I didn't know how I would feel about spending the weekend alone with Anastas in a foreign country.

"Are you alright with him going with you?"

"Yeah, we get along just fine. You're a teacher here, surely you've heard how the female students refer to him"

"I have but I also hope I know you well enough to not do something so stupid as have sex with a teacher"

"That's not what I'm worried about, I'm not going to ruin my changes at graduating by doing that. I'm worried about the rumours that will start, people will assume that's what happened especially when they learn it's just the two of us"

"I know, it's why I'm going back to Court for the weekend. We will leave and return at the same time, your flights are from the public airport near Court. We've done it this way to help reduce the rumours"

"Thanks dad, this means a lot that I'm finally able to get everything left from them" I gave him a smile before leaning over and hugging him which in turn shocked him.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Haha don't worry Dri won't be getting pregnant any time soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Adrianna POV

I was standing in one of the court yards not far from the novice dorms waiting for Damon and Josh to turn up, Bri had turned up at my dorm two hours ago and told me to go shower before she helped me get ready. I still had to act surprised about this party and I had no idea if my fake act of shock would pass but either way I was a little worried for how this was going to go.

I heard wolf whistles and quickly spun around trying to not lose my balance in these heels that Bri demanded I wear and spotted both Damon and Josh standing there eyeing me like I was a piece of meat. I honestly thought these two stopped hitting on me sophomore year.

"She looks amazing doesn't she?" Bri spoke and I grinned, I loved this dress and how it looked on me.

"She looks hot and she is wasted on Spencer's arm" Damon spoke and it didn't take long for Josh to agree.

"Alright, where am I going? I'm dressed up like this and have no idea what's going on" I placed my hands on my hips and I groaned when Damon pulled out a blindfold. I was not looking for to this

Bri had ended up being the one to navigate me since she knew how hard it can be to walk in heels and have no idea what is in front of you. We stopped and I could hear the low hum of music and it wasn't long until the blindfold was removed from my eyes and I was happy at seeing everyone who was here.

Just by looking around I know we were pushing the boundaries of the wards and if the Guardians found us, all of us would be in trouble but then again I'm the only one here that didn't know about this beforehand everyone else happily came out here.

Everyone came over and wished me a happy birthday, the girls raved about my dress while the guys raved about how good I looked in it. I was beginning to wonder if Spence was actually here since I hadn't seen him yet but I eventually spotted him off to the side drinking a beer with Bas, I headed in their direction and they both stared at me.

"I've said this before and I will say it again Spence, you don't deserve her. She's too hot for you, happy birthday Dri" Bas spoke as he stepped forward and kissed my cheek, I gave him a smile as thanks before looking at Spence and I couldn't help but notice he didn't look too happy.

Bas taking the hint quickly left saying something about needing another drink and he left the two of us alone. Spence didn't move from his spot and walk over to me and put his arms around me like he normally would.

I frowned at him, "what's wrong?"

"That dress"

"You don't like it?" I spoke seductively as I stepped closer to him

"Not at all, in fact I love how it looks on you. What I don't like is all the other guys ogling you and forgetting that your mine" Spence growled before finally stepping forward and wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him.

"I don't know why you worry about that, I'm not going to leave you anytime soon" I looked up at him but the frown didn't disappear, I reached up and placed a hand on his cheek. "Hey, you know I want you and only you yeah?"

Spence's face finally softened and he looked at me, he gave me a smile before leaning down and kissing me. "I'm sorry babe, I just don't like seeing all these other guys drooling over you"

"Don't know why you are worrying so much" I shook my head at him before kissing him again.

It didn't take long for the kiss to deepen and his grip tightened on my waist, I heard people whistling and cat calling but it wasn't until Bri spoke that I pulled away from Spence. "Alright Dri, you can kiss your boyfriend later for now it's time for shots"

"No tequila" was all I said as I let Bri pull me away and I was happy to see that Spence had a smile on his face, I just hoped Bas would find him and keep him occupied.

"No promises, one would think you've already been drinking from that kiss"

"He was being jealous, he gets more possessive when he's just jealous"

"It's the dress" Bri grinned as we walked to where Damon was standing holding a bottle and I was glad it was vodka and not tequila.

It was a couple of hours later and much alcohol later when I had Spence's arms wrapped tightly around me as we were standing there talking with my friends and for once I was glad that Damon and Spence were getting along.

I honestly believed if it wasn't for Spence holding me up I wouldn't be able to stand up straight after all the shots I had been given. Spence softly kissed my neck and I melted into him, enjoying how the night went immensely.

"Have you had fun Dri?" Damon spoke pulling me from my thoughts, long ago I had stopped paying attention to their conversation.

"I have, it means a lot that you organised this" I gave him a smile and before any of us could say anything Collins appeared close by and I was annoyed that Josh had invited her, he had still not broken up with her yet.

"Guardians!" she yelled before running off and I looked at my friends.

It didn't surprise us that the Guardians broke up the party, in fact we were surprised we were out this long before they broke it up. We all took off running and I lost sight of my friends, we normally ran in different directions in hopes of confusing the Guardians.

It wasn't until my footing went out under me and I rolled my ankle that I regretted not having taken my shoes off, I went down to the ground and just hoped I wasn't caught by my own stupidness. I rolled over and attempted to sit up and look at my ankle, it looked fine and it was a little tender but it wasn't until I tried to put weight on that I realised just how sore it was.

I leaned down and attempted to undo the strap on my heel and see if I could stand on it without the heel.

"Are you alright?" I jumped at the sound of Anastas' voice, I turned and looked at him. I couldn't help but smirk at him eyeing me again, when he realised that I had caught him checking me out I grinned at him but he didn't say anything.

"No I was stupid enough to try and run in heels and I rolled my ankle" he shook his head before walking over and squatting at my feet.

He picked up my ankle and moved it around and I winced at the pain. "Sorry, but it's just a sprain. A couple of days rest and you should be all good, come on I'll help you back to your dorm"

"I'm not in trouble for being out after curfew?" I questioned completely confused since normally this follows a big speech about being out after curfew while drunk

"Oh you're in trouble just no point while you're drunk and injured" Anastas stood up and held a hand out for me.

I grabbed the hand and put all my weight on the one foot that wasn't sore, once I was standing I noticed how dizzy I was from the alcohol and just how sore my ankle was. Anastas must have noticed my discomfort and placed an arm around my waist to help steady me.

"Come on let's get you back to your dorm and you can deal with your punishment at a later date"

"Or you could take me hurting myself and having to miss a couple of days as enough of punishment" Anastas laughed at me

"Don't think so, you will be fine after a couple of days rest"

We were silent after that as we made the rest of the way to my room, even once I was in my bed he didn't leave. He handed me my water bottle and telling me to get some rest before he left my room. I found his actions odd but I eventually forgot about it as I fell asleep.

It wasn't until a couple of days later that I finally came across Anastas and I was getting punished for the party the other night. In the end I was just made to run laps of the track while Anastas stood there and watched me, Bri and Damon had to do something similar while they were hungover but since I was injured I had to rest. The Guardians had a strict no training while injured policy to a degree anyway, if the injury happened during a spar then we were forced to keep going since once we were out in the real world we had no time outs but after that we had to rest until we were better.

My laps were finished and I was lying on the ground while Anastas was testing my ankle, it was feeling much better than it was on the weekend and I was able to run my laps perfectly fine.

"Your ankle seems to be fine now" Anastas spoke while placing my ankle back on the ground

I scoffed in response, "I just ran my laps, of course its fine"

"For all I knew you were playing it off in hopes of you being allowed to join back in on combat classes"

"You don't decide that, the doctor does" I sat up and looked at him, he was still sitting by my feet.

"I do get a say, if for some reason I believe you are lying about your health the doctor will believe me"

"How is you can see through my lies?"

"Oh I am not giving that away, are you ready for the weekend?" my face dropped at his comment.

It was this weekend we were heading to Australia so I could claim everything left to me and I didn't know if I was ready for it. I didn't have any idea as to what was left for me and I was worried I was going to break because of it.

I eventually shook my head in response before lying back down looking up at the stars. Classes were over for the day and I didn't have to be anywhere anytime soon, I know Spence wanted to see me but right now I didn't want to talk to any of my friends and I felt bad since I hadn't told any of them what the go was for the weekend.

"I can't imagine what you are going through with the idea of seeing what was left for you like this but it will be fine"

"I haven't even told my friends I'm disappearing for the weekend" I laughed before placing my hands over my face.

"You'll be fine, I have to head off. I'm sure I will see you in classes tomorrow if not I will meet you at the plane on Friday" Anastas bid me goodbye before standing up and leaving me alone on the track.

I knew I would have to tell my friends eventually that I was taking off for the weekend, I knew Bri and Damon wouldn't care just say if I wanted to talk they would be there for me but Spence I was a little unsure off.

Spence could be incredibly jealous at some points, it rarely happened but it did and Saturday night was the worst I had seen it. He barely left my side and he was constantly having an arm wrapped around me to show that I was his and when I did leave his side I would return to find him sulking about something.

I finally got up and headed back to my dorm to shower before going off to meet up with Spence like we had agreed, I found him sitting in one of the unused lounges. He had his books spread out in front of him, I smiled at the sight of him actually studying for once before walking over and taking a seat beside him.

"Hi babe how was your session with Anastas?" Spence spoke without looking up at me

I leaned against him and rested my head against his shoulder, "tiring I was finally punished for being caught after curfew and being drunk from my party"

"Oh that's no good" he spoke while shrugging me off his shoulder.

"Spence what's wrong?" he shook his head in reply and I couldn't take it. "Fine if you're so busy I will just go back to my dorm" I stood up and headed for the door to leave.

"Damn it babe, wait" I turned around and looked at him, I shook my head and he jumped over the back of the couch and walked over so he was standing in front of me.

"What's wrong Spence?"

"What's wrong me? What's wrong with you? Ever since your birthday you've been acting weird towards all of us, you were fine when I gave you your present and then afterwards you were all distant" this wasn't how I wanted to tell Spence about my trip to Melbourne

"Seriously? That night you were constantly being jealous of the other guys, it was bugging me. You cracked when I went to leave and do shots with Bri or god forbid I danced with Bri"

"You're my girlfriend"

"Yes I'm your girlfriend not your property, I'm allowed to have fun with my friends and if you're going to be constantly jealous because of it then I don't know anymore"

"Are you kidding me Dri? That dress was too far, surely you knew what to expect if you wore that out in public!"

"There was nothing wrong with that dress, you said you loved it and if you really want to blame someone blame Bri she gave it to me for my birthday"

"Dri you're being an idiot, why would you even think I would enjoy seeing all those guys flirt with you and treat you like a piece of meat?"

"What like you did before we started dating? I seem to remember a party before we dated and I wore a dress very similar to that one"

"That's not what I meant"

"But it's the same thing Spence, I don't know how much more of this side of you I can handle. Maybe me going away this weekend is a good thing, maybe we can have some space and work some things out" I spoke quietly shocking him, I didn't want to tell him like this.

I had hoped I would tell him why I was going to Australia and he would be the caring boyfriend he was early in our relationship.

"Where are you going?" all the anger was from his face and he was a little worried.

"Australia, I'm 18 and technically an adult in Australia so I can get claim to everything. Dad organised it so I can go for the weekend"

"Oh…"

"Yeah, I'll see you around Spence" I gave him one last look before turning around and leaving him alone in the room.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **Shannon** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love my stories and that you get so excited when I post a new chapter, it means a lot to know how much people enjoy my stories**

 **Amorsagirl** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved the last chapter.**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It's fine I understand that sometimes life gets in the way but thank you for pointing how Spencer knew she was talking to a human, how about let's go with the sign of in the email. It was a work email and it stated where his office was in Melbourne Australia, Spencer must have known there aren't many Moroi or dhampirs living in Australia. Yes Dimitri is overprotective, there will be a slight difference in the relationship between Dri and Rose and Dimitri since Dri grew up with Adrian.**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. You will have to wait and see as to if it is the beginning of Dri and Nik.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Adrianna POV

When I woke up I noticed I was leaning against Anastas, I pulled away and looked at him. "Sorry"

"Its fine, is everything alright you practically went to sleep as soon as the plane took off" I looked away from him and stared at the screen in front of me.

He was right though, as soon as the plane took off I went to sleep. Spence and I haven't spoken since that day in the empty lounge, even in class he would sit away from me with Bas. I was worried as for what this would mean for our relationship but maybe we just needed the weekend to sort things out and I hoped we came out alright after this weekend.

"I'm fine, have you ever been to Australia?"

"No, how much do you remember?" he looked over at me and I gave him a small smile, I shifted in my seat so I could face him properly

"Apart from the sun and the heat not much, I can't even remember what my grandparents' house looks like" my smile fell, I hated that I couldn't remember anything about living with my grandparents, everything is once dad had found me and taken me home with him.

"Well we have a couple of days in Melbourne, I'm sure we can find it"

"I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for it"

"Maybe it's part of the estates that was left to you"

"Maybe, we'll have to wait and see what the lawyer has for me" I turned back around and placed my headphones in before picking another movie to watch.

I could feel Anastas watching me and I didn't know why, I didn't know what he expected me to do. Did he expect me to break down or lose it? As of right now I felt perfectly fine but I didn't know what would happen once I received everything.

When we finally arrived in Melbourne it was midday and the sun was out, it didn't matter if it was October and they were coming out of winter it was reassembly warm and I was enjoying it. We both stepped outside and I placed my bags on the ground and just stood there taking in the sun.

At some point I had begun spinning around and when I stopped I found Anastas standing there looking at me with amusement, I frowned at him. "What?"

"Nothing at all. Come on we should get a taxi and head to the hotel" he had a small smile on his face as he flagged down a taxi. I picked up my bags and climbed in after him.

We arrived at the hotel and headed up to our room, well it was more like a small apartment by the state of it. Dad made sure we wouldn't be too close but booking one with separate bedrooms and bathrooms. We both headed off to shower and get changed.

I wasn't surprised when I walked of my bathroom and found Anastas sitting on the couch waiting for me. "I'm ready" his head turned and looked at me.

"Took you long enough, there's some things we need to cover first"

"What would that be?" I walked over and took a seat across from him

"Well for one you should call me Nikolaus in public, and two for me to come in with you to see your lawyer we have to tell them I'm your boyfriend"

"I can deal with calling you Nikolaus but why are pretending to date?"

"Because your dad doesn't want you to go in alone, for me to go in with you we have to do this. Both Petrov and your dad agree its fine since it will only be in public" I honestly hope this never gets back to Spence, he would really lose it.

"That's fine, is there anything else?"

"No that should be it, are you alright with the fake relationship?"

"If it's the only way I find out what was left for me then I will deal with it, can we go?" I spoke and knew there was too much anger in my voice then there should have been but he either didn't notice it or didn't say anything to let me know he did.

"Yes come on" he stood up and I followed him out of the hotel.

The bank where I was meeting the lawyer wasn't far from the hotel so we walked there, I assumed we were meeting the lawyer at his office but Anastas said that it had to be done at the bank as there was stuff left in a security deposit box for me which made me nervous. What was left for me in the box? I just assumed what was left was money and maybe the house, what else could there be?

"Miss Ivashkov?" I turned around at the sound of the voice and saw who I assumed to be the lawyer standing there.

"Yes but please call me Adrianna"

"Very well, I'm glad I finally get the chance to meet you and put a face to the name."

"Same here, this is my boyfriend Nikolaus Anastas I hope it's alright that he will be joining us today?"

"Yes of course, it's all up to you. If you will follow us" he gave us both a smile and turned to point down the hallway he wanted us to go.

We followed him through the building towards one of the offices at the back where there was two large envelopes setting on the table, I assumed one was my mothers and the other was my grandparents.

Both wills covered the basics, everything was left to me since I was the last living family member, all the properties, money, jewellery, everything. The last thing that the lawyer handed over was a letter.

"Your mother told me this was to be given to you when you turned 18, I was told it explained everything, why you had to wait until you were 18 to get anything and even why you had to wait for these letters" He then handed over a box that contained more letters

"Thank you, I will read these later. I can trust you in hopes that you will have all the money transferred to my account back in America?"

"Yes of course, we just need the details and then everything can be done from the bankers here"

"Thank you" I wrote down the account details and handed it to him.

"Is there anything else we can do for you while you are staying here?"

"No I think that is everything, if I have questions I'm sure I can contact you?"

"Yes of course, even though I'm not technically your lawyer you can still contact me anytime you need anything done and I'm awfully sorry I couldn't come out to you in America"

"It's fine, I'm just lucky I was able to get away for the weekend" I gave him a smile

After that I shook the lawyers hand and left the office heading outside, I didn't say anything to Anastas at first I didn't want to. I was trying to process everything, I leaned against the wall and Anastas stood in front of me looking at me with concern.

"Are you alright?" I ignored his question and opened the envelope looking for the address of the house I would have grown up if my grandparents didn't die.

"I'm fine, 132 Maple Way Toorak that's where my grandparents' house is"

"We don't have time to go today before dark, I promise we will go in the morning" I nodded at him and pushed myself off the wall to follow him back to the hotel.

The Letter

 _Adrianna,_

 _I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't there to watch you grow up, I hope you had the upbringing I know you deserve to have. I know you will have questions about who your father is, there isn't much I can tell you and I hope the detective I hired can find him before it is too late._

 _I wish I could have been there to watch you grow up, learn to talk, learn to walk, start school, start high school and graduate. I hate knowing I will miss every aspect of your life but I hope more than anything that there is still some sort of a family left for you._

 _What comes with turning 18 is everything that was in my name before I died, along with that is my bank accounts and everything I have to remember your father by. The reason you had wait so long for anything from me is because my best friend growing up had been raised in foster homes and if anything had happened to my parents I didn't want your new guardians to know that you had an inheritance waiting for you, I didn't want them to use you like they used my best friend._

 _Most people told me I was young and stupid but I wouldn't change that summer for anything. I wasn't in love with your father but he meant the world to me at the time, I believe he was our in between people. I was getting over a broken heart and so was he. I know I didn't get the chance to meet someone else but I was able to bring you into the world, so I can only hope that he was able to move on._

 _I hope you had the best childhood growing up and I can only hope you have the best future. I want you to know I would have loved you know matter what you did in your past, what you decide to with your future, whether you became an artist or a brain surgeon I would have been proud of you either way._

 _I hope you can find someone who means the world to you and gives you the family you deserve. You deserve to be incredibly happy no matter how much heart break you had growing up. I can't imagine the pain you suffered growing up without your mother, I just hope your father was found in time before it was too late._

 _Please remember I love you and I wouldn't go back and change the fact that I got to bring you into the world. I was more than willing to risk my life to bring you into this world._

 _Adrianna you are my best mistake and I already love you so much._

 _I love you xo_

Adrianna POV

I left my room and headed out in search of Anastas, after the meeting with the lawyer we came back here and I went straight to my room to read the first letter from my mother before going through the box and the rest of the envelope I was handed. The envelope was standard covering what I was to expect to be placed in my account as well as any properties being handed down to me while the box contained a numerous number of letters written as well to be read as various points in my life.

I ended up finding Anastas in the kitchen and it looked like he was cooking, I walked over and took a seat at the breakfast bar. He looked up at my appearance in the kitchen, "You alright?"

"Yeah it was just the first letter from my mum, what are you doing?"

"Cooking dinner, what does it look like?" he smirked at me and I shook my head, I knew what he was trying to do and I was grateful, he was trying to improve my mood.

"Oh I was hoping we could order in pizza, I didn't know you could cook"

"There's a lot you don't know about me"

"We've got time until we have to be back at St Vladimir's Anastas" I smiled at him but he raised an eyebrow

"How about this, you actually call me Nikolaus and I will think about telling you more about myself"

"Fine then Nikolaus, who taught you to cook?"

"My mother and my grandmother but mostly my grandmother"

"Why mostly your grandmother?"

"When I was 10 my mother went back to be a Guardian" that shocked me

"Why when you were 10? Most female dhampirs either go back straight away or not at all"

"That doesn't matter, have you ever had Greek food?"

"No I would rather pizza"

"Oh come on I put a lot of effort in this, I'm making dinner and dessert"

"Aw did poor little Nicky put a lot of effort into cooking for little old me" I teased and I couldn't help but laugh when he glared at me

"Don't ever call me Nicky again" he growled, I hadn't ever seen him this angry even when I had gotten in trouble

"Woah, I'm sorry alright I didn't realise you would take it that bad" his face softened when I spoke, it made me wonder by Nicky was such a tense name for him. I knew Matt hated it when I called him Matty but he had never been like this with me.

"It's fine what do you want to do tonight?"

"We could continue playing this whole get to know you game while drinking?"

"You're not allowed to drink Adrianna"

"Well Nik here is the thing, in Australia you only have to be 18 to drink. I'm 18 therefore I'm allowed to drink" he looked up at me and I grinned

"What makes you think you can call me Nik?"

"Because you didn't give me the worst death glare when I call you Nik"

"Fine then Dri if you're going to be like that" I grinned at him and made my way over to where the mini bar was with the idea of getting the bottle of vodka out. "What did I just say about you drinking?"

"Oh come on, I'm allowed to drink and we aren't going anywhere, what Strigoi is going to find us up here? This building has like 30 floors"

"Your dad will kill both of us" he complained and I rolled my eyes, I couldn't believe he was being like this, there was no way dad was going to find out what happened because I was not going to tell him and I doubt Nikolaus would.

"I won't tell him if you won't" I flashed him a smile as I made my way back over to my previous seat.

"I think you had more than enough to drink last weekend" he raised an eyebrow at me

"Fine, what happened to get you sent to St Vladimir's?"

"What makes you think something happened?"

"I hear things, I hear you're one of the Guardians that comes out for a three year stint before going back to a Moroi. You joined us sophomore year so that also means your three years are up when I graduate"

"If I let you drink will you stop asking why I'm here and why my mother went back to being a Guardian when I was 10?"

"I can deal with that" I grinned at him before jumping off the chair and going to fridge in hopes there is still orange juice in the fridge.

Dinner ended up being amazing, I didn't realise Greek food tasted amazing and that Nikolaus was that good of a cook. I also couldn't believe how much he was willing to tell me and we spent the night drinking and getting to know each other but now the thing that bugged me was something he wasn't willing to tell me.

I wanted to know why his mother went back to being a Guardian and why he was sent to the academy in the first place, we had heard the rumours about him and I had sparred against him and he was an amazing fighter so I seriously wondered what happened.

"Do you recognise anything Dri?" Nikolaus question as I walked around my grandparents' home.

It was earlier then I would have liked and Nikolaus kept to his promise about coming here when the sun was up. I was walking around the house trying to see if I could recognise anything but nothing was coming up, I couldn't remember anything.

"I don't" I spoke softly before looking at photos that were lined up on a side table.

There were a couple of photos of me when I was younger with my grandparents or other people I assumed were friends or family. It wasn't until I reached a photo of a blonde headed women that I picked it up.

"You look a lot like your mother" his voice startled me and I dropped the photo but he caught it before it hit the ground.

"She was beautiful" I spoke as he handed the photo back

"Yes she was and as I said you look a lot like your mother" I looked up at him confused but all he did was give me a smile before turning around and walking off.

Did he know he just called me beautiful or was it just me misreading what he said?

"Hey Dri come have a look at this" I heard Nikolaus yell from the other room and I eventually found him standing in what I assumed was an office.

"What is it?" I walked over and he was holding a piece of paper, I grabbed it from him and it just seemed like my grandparents' marriage certificate but then I noticed my grandmother's maiden name.

"Mariella Grimaldi, Isn't that Italian?"

"I think so, so not only are you American, Australia and part Romania or Russian like the rest of us, you are also Italian"

Most of our people were part Romania or Russian since our races originally came from those areas and relocation to American centuries ago while some families still stayed to their roots.

I couldn't believe my grandmother was Italian, it made me wonder if that was why I found Dimitri speaking Russians so soothing, was it because my grandmother did the same thing when I was younger, speak Italian to help settle me?

"The things you learn…" I muttered to myself before moving away and having a look at everything else in the room.

There was so much here that I wanted to take back to St Vladimir's with me but half of it wouldn't even be useful, in the end I went with grabbing a handful of photos and putting them in a photo album to bring back with me with the idea of dealing with the house and its contents at another time and if worse comes to worse I could always get the lawyer to sell it. If I was Guardian what use would I have of a house in a country where we wouldn't visit?

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **Jpitt** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying it so far and it means a lot to hear that you really enjoyed My Best Mistake. As for Spencer, you are right he is messing things up because of his insecurities but I've got a bit planned for Spencer so stayed tuned. As for who Dri will end up with you will have to stay tuned, but I understand why you want to see Dri with someone else. It's why I put her in a relationship with Spencer to begin with, it allowed you to see the difference in the relationship**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying it**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Just wait and see what I have planned for Dri and Nikolaus.**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved it and thank you for letting me know that you made an account.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Adrianna POV

I made it back to the academy late Monday night meaning I had skipped a days' worth of classes, I knew Bri would have a made note of what work I missed but the only thing I wanted to know right now is how things were going to be between Spence and I.

I pulled out my phone and sent Spence a message. _'You awake?'_ I stayed like that sitting on my bed hoping he was awake but when I didn't get a reply I assumed he was asleep and decided to get some sleep myself.

I got up early the next morning like I normally do to meet Bri and Damon in the gym but there was a feeling in my stomach that the two of would ask how my weekend was and aside from the emotional part of receiving what was left from me and seeing my grandparents' house everything else was fine, I had no problems spending the time with Nikolaus and we got along just fine as well as learning new things about each other.

I entered the gym and found both Bri and Damon sitting on the floor not even looking like they were up for training this morning.

"Morning" I yawned as I walked over and took a seat beside them.

"Morning Dri, I heard you come back late last night and thought you might want to talk instead of train" Bri gave me a smile

"Thanks but it's not really much to talk about, yeah I guess it was a bit emotional receiving the will packets and seeing my grandparents' house but the rest of the weekend was fine"

"So you and Anastas didn't have sex?" Damon winked at me and I laughed in response.

I only told Bri and Damon the truth about my trip and they agreed that the rest of the seniors didn't need to know the truth about who I went with.

"God no, could you imagine what would happen if I had sex with him? He's a teacher and he's my mentor. Don't get me wrong he is incredibly good looking and that accent he has is amazing but it doesn't mean I should risk my education and future on something like that"

"Ah so you are just going to make a go at him once we've graduated?" Bri laughed at Damon this time.

"Hey he's fair game once we've graduated" I grinned at them and they both laughed.

"I might try and beat you to him, he is fine" Bri spoke and I shook my head.

Bri and I had made jokes in the past about wanting to have sex with Nikolaus and we knew it was just that and we had spoken about maybe what would happen once we graduated but in a world like ours, our possible future changes every day due to the looming threat of Strigoi.

The three of us ended up sitting there talking and I told them about the letters my mother had left me as well as seeing the house.

"Dri can we talk?" we all looked over at the sound of Spence's voice. I was shocked that he was actually up this early, his sleep means everything to him.

"We'll see you at breakfast" Bri and Damon both hugged me before leaving me alone with Spence.

Before I left for Melbourne I had told them both what happened with Spence, Damon was annoyed that I was hurt over a possible breakup but I convinced him to not do anything while I was gone until I knew for sure what was happening while Bri was sympathetic towards the situation.

"Hi" I spoke softly as I stood up to face him, I tried to keep my face calm I didn't want him to know how worried I've been about this.

"I'm such an idiot and I'm sorry for how things were left between us" I looked at him and I hated seeing him like this, he actually looked worried. Was he as worried as I was about the future of our relationship?

"I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, I shouldn't have reacted like that I should have heard you out" I dropped my mask and showed him how worried I was and that was when he stepped forward and placed his arms around me.

"I know I need to work on my jealously issues but it is hard when everyone is trying to get you"

"But I don't want them Spence, I'm happy with you" I looked up at him and gave him a smile, he didn't say anything at first just leaned down to kiss me.

He pulled away and I pressed my face into his chest, "How was your weekend anyway? I'm sorry I wasn't awake last night"

"Don't worry about it, I didn't know when I would get the chance to see you. I missed you while I was gone and I wanted to make sure we were fine"

"We're fine babe, how was your weekend"

We ended up sitting on the floor facing each other while I told him how the weekend was leaving out the parts with Nikolaus knowing it would just cause a fight between us and I didn't want to fight with Spence anymore.

"Babe are you alright?" I looked up at him, I had stopped paying attention to what he said about his own weekend. He said there were no parties and he just spent time with his friends.

I had gotten lost in thoughts trying to remember anything from when I was five and before my grandparents had died but I was coming up with nothing.

"My weekend wasn't that boring" Spence reached over and wiped away my tears

"I'm sorry I just hate how I can't recall anything from before I was five, being in that house over the weekend nothing looked familiar not even photos of my grandparents"

"Its fine, your weekend was tough" he reached out and grabbed me and pulled me against him.

"I'm sorry I stopped listening to yours though"

"Don't worry about it, I was hoping to distract you but I see it didn't work. How about we go get some breakfast and you can see the rest of your friends" Spence softly kissed the top of my head before standing up and pulling me with him.

When we entered the cafeteria I was pleased to see that Stephanie was sitting at her own table instead of my usual one, Stephanie shot me a glare and I flashed her a smile. I had no idea why she was annoyed at me this time but I learnt long ago that giving her a smile when she was annoyed at me just made things so much better.

"Come on babe she's not worth it" Spence placed a hand on my back and pushed me towards my table.

When we made it to the table everyone said morning but Spence didn't sit down. "I'm going to see a feeder and find Bas, I will be back" Spence gave me a soft kiss before heading towards the back room.

"Is everything all good with you two now?" Damon questioned as soon as Spence was gone.

"Yes we're fine Damon, you don't need to beat him up" I smirked at him and he frowned, I think Damon just wanted an excuse to beat up Spence. "Hey Josh what's going on with Collins"

"I finally broke up with her, I couldn't deal with her stupid clinginess all the time" Josh replied, complaining a little bit and we all stared at him. "What?"

"You took this long to break up with her" Bri stated

"Bri is right, you have been complaining about her since day one" Josh just shrugged in response and I shook my head. I would never understand what went through guys' heads and it was a wonder that Spence was still fine in a relationship that has been going on as long as ours if he was anything like Josh.

"Like I said then, she was good in bed"

"And it's taken you this long to realise how annoying she is, I don't care how hot she is even I wouldn't have sex with her" Damon spoke earning a grin from both Bri and I

"And that is why we prefer Damon over Josh" I spoke flashing Josh a smile. It was constantly a running joke between both boys as to who we preferred out of the two of them.

Josh frowned but didn't get the chance to say anything as the rest of our friends joined us. "Why do you prefer Damon this time?" Izzy spoke first and Bri and I burst out laughing.

It didn't matter if all of us were friends, our group was spilt down the middle Moroi vs. dhampir. It didn't bother us, those four were close and us four were close. The Moroi didn't understand how Josh and Damon had no problem sleeping around like they did, Bri wasn't exactly innocent either but she didn't openly speak about her own experiences with them it was usually me only.

Izzy and Eric had been dating since freshman year while Caroline was completely innocent, while Bri and I had a strong feeling that Elliot was gay but nothing was confirmed and we kept our suspicious to ourselves.

"Josh finally broke up with Collins but Damon said he didn't care how hot she was, he still wouldn't have sex with her"

"Ah yes, I prefer Damon too" Izzy grinned at Josh and he pouted at Bri and I, nothing was going to work. I just laughed at him but it was then we heard yelling from a table over.

"You're just jealous"

"What do I have to be jealous over Reynolds? Your shitty grades?"

"Oh come of Ayles, your just jealous I'm friends with Royals and am going to get a better placement then you"

I scoffed at the commotion and turned back to my friends, Ayles happened to be the same Emily Ayles that lived at Court during breaks with me and her best friend was Stefan Miles. Reynolds just happened to be Emily's version of Stephanie expect it was rumoured to believe that Reynolds' grades were pretty bad.

"When are those two going to learn that fighting in the cafeteria is just going to end up causing problems for them" Bri spoke and everyone laughed at her. "What?"

"Oh come on Bri, don't you remember what happened freshman year?"

"Don't talk of that event" she glared at us all but it just caused us all to laugh again.

It was almost the end of freshman year and Stephanie decided to start an argument with Bri in the middle of cafeteria during dinner, it ended up in a fist fight and the two of them were banned from witnessing senior final trials and were on lockdown for the three weeks remaining of term. They couldn't attend any parties or social events, I constantly had Bri on the phone complaining about it.

"Yes well because of Bri getting put on three weeks suspension we have all learnt not to fight in front of the teachers" Eric spoke, both him and Izzy were a part of the Moroi combat class with Spence but Caroline and Elliot weren't and it didn't surprise me, they weren't very confrontational.

"But remember Ayles and Reynolds are younger than us, they were still in middle school when that happened. None of the younger years no what can happen, I've seen it with all of them. There are usually a couple of people that butt heads and they argue but they're all lucky that none of them have turned into fist fights"

"Once again Dri proves she is all knowing" Damon spoke and I grinned at him, I hated being known as the all-knowing but I loved it when I was praised like this.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved it**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes I did send you a preview of that chapter, I'm glad you notice the subtle compliment that Nik had given Dri but yet it just seemed to confuse her :)**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are loving it**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Adrianna POV

The school term was almost over and it meant it was time for one of the school dances, every year they were at different times of the year in hopes of them preventing the parties that were always held afterwards but it never worked, there was always a party and the more they tried to prevent it the bigger the party was.

I was over in Izzy's dorm getting ready with her, Bri and Caroline, I was always amazed how different the Moroi dorms were to the novices and I think it had something to with how Guardians didn't have much in their lives but yet the Moroi could have what they wanted and I hated it.

"I think we should curl Dri's hair" Caroline spoke, her and Izzy were standing behind me trying to think of what to do with my hair.

I shared a look with Bri and she laughed at me and it caused Izzy to swat me over the head. "Owe" I rubbed my head but they just laughed.

I didn't mind the dances or even the parties we were regularly attending but what I hated was when Izzy and Caroline fussed over my hair and make-up, normally I just let my hair dry naturally and put on basic make-up. Half the time I didn't worry because as soon as I hit my combat classes my hair would be soaked in sweat and my make-up would run.

In the end the girls did what they wanted and curled my hair and pinning it up with loose curls framing my face. I was grateful when they had finished and moved on to themselves since it gave me the chance to go and sit with Bri, they had done her first.

"Any idea what your dress looks like?" Bri spoke when I moved over to beside her.

Izzy was crazy when it came to the school dances, she wanted to work in fashion once we all graduated and because of that she was regularly making her own dresses for the dances and they were amazing but she preferred making dresses for Bri and I since our bodies were bit curvier then hers.

"No, you and I both know what she is like when it comes to our dresses we never get to see them"

Bri hated not knowing what she was wearing for these dances, she was one of those girls that spent all day organising an outfit for a party and I had no idea how she would go once we graduated and were forced to wear the same thing every day.

"Alright close your eyes" Izzy finally spoke and Bri and I shared a look before putting our hands over our eyes. We never understood how she got so excited about this sort of stuff but we let it go.

"Here you go, open your eyes" Izzy finally spoke and I wouldn't admit it but I was a little excited, this would be the last time I would be able to wear one of Izzy's creations.

I opened my eyes and Izzy was standing in front of me holding a strapless black dress with deep purple lace over the bust while Caroline was standing in front of Bri holding a strapless aqua green dress with fake diamonds, well I hoped they were fake, across the bust.

"They're amazing Izzy" Bri exclaimed as she stepped forward and grabbed her dress to get changed.

Once we were all dressed we headed downstairs to where the boys were waiting for us, Bri ended up going with Damon as her date since she didn't want to have deal with some guy trying to get too touchy feely with her and Damon agreed, Izzy was going with Eric while Caroline had asked one of the Moroi that I didn't share a single class with and I think his name was Harvey while Elliot had decided to ditch the dance all together and Josh had roped in some junior Moroi he was hoping to have sex with later on in the night.

"You look beautiful goldie" I heard Spence's voice and I spun around to face him.

Ever since I got back from Melbourne things between the two of us have been perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything better but in the last week he had been calling me goldie more and more. Everyone else was confused but only Bri and Damon knew the truth behind the nickname, we agreed that the less amount of people who knew the truth the better.

"Thank you, who knew you cleaned up so well" I smirked at him and he shook his head before wrapping his arms around me.

"Don't be mean, I would much rather spend time with you in my dorm while everyone else is at the dance" Spence whispered in my ear and I squirmed against him

"Well it has been a while" I spoke seductively before pulling away and walking over to where Bri and Damon were standing.

I looked back at Spence and found Bas standing next to him, I winked at Spence and he shot me a grin before going back to his conversation.

"What are you and Spence going on about?" Bri spoke once the two of us were away from the boys.

"He's in a mood and I can't work out why, he's constantly calling me goldie"

"Is it bothering you?"

"I don't know, I don't like the idea of someone working out that I'm different but there aren't any other Spirit users here at the moment so no one really knows but my worry is still there"

"Maybe you should talk to him about it?"

"I've tried, every time I try it ends up with the two of us making out"

"No sex?" Bri looked at me in shock, it took a while for Spence and I to finally have sex but once we did it was like a damn bursting open.

"No, we haven't had sex in ages and I don't know what's going on with him. If he wasn't being affectionate I would worry he was going to break up with me but it's far from that"

"You should talk to him and not tonight once you've both been drinking"

"Who do you have to talk to?" Spence spoke as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"No one Spence" I looked up at him and gave him a smile, I knew he didn't believe me but he didn't question me just continued to walk with us towards the dance.

When we made it into the dance I couldn't help but notice how Spence wrapped his arm more tightly around my waist, it wasn't something he hasn't done before he had but normally it was at a party when I was in a dress that was a bit more inappropriate then this one.

But this was different, it wasn't just guys looking in my direction it was girls as well and everyone whispering amongst themselves. I had obviously missed a piece of the latest gossip and I was worried, the last time I was the centre of the gossip it wasn't good.

I looked over at Bri hoping more than anything she knew what was going on but by the look on her face she was as clueless as I was and when I looked at Spence he looked furious.

"Spence" I spoke and he looked down at me, he gave me a soft smile before softly kissing my head but didn't say anything.

At some point Spence had reluctantly left with Bas, Bas was saying something about one of their friends doing something stupid and he had to check it out. Spence looked between the two of us almost as if he didn't know what to do but in the end I told him to go off with his friends since I had my own.

I was standing with Bri by the punch bowl just glad that for once someone hadn't spiked it but the night was early.

"Spencer is acting weird Dri"

"I know, he's oddly protective over me tonight and it's different to when his jealous. He was almost afraid to leave me alone and go off with Bas" I looked at her before looking over to where Spence and Bas were standing

"I noticed that, normally he has no problem running of Bas and he barely gives you a second look"

"I know and I have no problem when he does that but his behaviour tonight and how he's been lately doesn't add up" Bri didn't know what to say to that and we both went silently watching Bas and Spence.

"Who knew make-up could do such a good job" I heard Stephanie speak and when I turned to face her Gabi and Logan snickered, I had no idea what was going on with those two.

"Yeah well it seems to cover up how ugly you are" I shot back but she just narrowed her eyes before smiling at me.

"Well yes it did that for you too but I'm talking about the marks, in fact I'm surprised Hasting has let you out of his sight for the night"

"What are you on about Collins?"

"You know exactly what I'm on about" she smirked at before turning and leaving with her giggling friends.

"Alright what the hell was that about?" I turned and faced Bri and she looked just as confused as I did.

"I've got no idea…it's the weirdest thing I've ever witnessed" Bri shook her head

"Adrianna can we talk?" I was shocked at first by hearing my full name, I turned my head and found Emily standing there.

Emily and I weren't exactly the best of friends but all the Court kids had this bond since none of our parents were exactly always there for us when we wanted them.

"Hey Emily, what's going on?"

"Well there's a rumour…"

"Of course there is, what is it?"

"Well it's just"

"Just spit it out Ayles" Bri growled

"Well there's a rumour floating around that you're a blood whore and your letting Hasting feed off you" Emily quickly shot out and I suspected that all colour just drained from my face, Emily must have seen the look on my face and taken off.

"Dri…" Bri spoke carefully but I just shook my head before storming over to where Spence was standing with Bas.

"You knew didn't you!" I yelled at him and his face dropped

"Babe…"

"You should have told me, I deserve to know!"

"Dri calm down, I only didn't tell you because I was worried. We may not have been dating the last time you had rumours floating around about you but I still know what happened and I sure as hell don't want it to happen again"

"I'm not going to spin out of control again this time Spence!" I yelled at him

"Babe please calm down so we can talk, I'm just worried about you"

"You don't know anything Spencer" I hissed at him before turning around storming out of the room not wanting to even be here anymore.

I continued all the way towards the gym with the idea of taking my anger out on one of the punching bags not even caring that I was in dress and heels.

I made it to the gym and slipped off my heels before walking over and turning on the stereo knowing I won't be distracting anyone since everyone was most likely at the dance still.

"Dri stop!" I heard Nikolaus yell and I turned around to face him, I didn't even hear him enter or turn the music off. "Your hands"

I was confused at what he said at first but when I looked down at my hands I noticed I had split some of my knuckles open and there was blood everywhere, I didn't realise, I wasn't this reckless about not taping my hands. The one time both Rose and Dimitri caught me punching the punching bag without my hands taped I ended up on the end of the biggest lecture ever from them.

I hadn't even realised he walked off but he came back and put an hand on my back and guided me towards the bench to sit down and the whole time I couldn't help but notice how warm his hand felt being on my back and when it was removed I all of a sudden felt cold.

"What happened?" he spoke as he begun wiping the blood away from my hands

"Rumours and finding out my friends are keeping them from me" I spoke in between hisses from the pain

"They're worried about you, they don't want you to collapse again" I stared at him in confusion, "who do you think found you last time?"

I shrugged hoping more than anything he hadn't witnessed or even knew about it, from stories and seeing him in action he was an amazing Guardian and I didn't like the idea that he thought I was weaker than I should be.

"I went through something similar, mind you I was 10 not 18"

"What happened?"

"I threw myself into training, I wasn't allowed to touch the weights but you know as well as I do that the younger kids are allowed to use the cardio machines. I pushed myself too far"

"What caused it?"

He didn't say anything at first, just focused on the task of cleaning my hands. "My brother was killed by a Strigoi, it's why my mother went back to being a Guardian it's the only way she could cope. She wanted me to watch him but I couldn't and he had gotten killed"

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I might find my brothers annoying but if something happened to them I would devastated"

I honestly couldn't believe this, I couldn't believe he lost his brother when he was 10 but at least he understood what I could get like at some points.

"Thank you, you really should tape your hands more often"

"I normally do, I just forgot. I was so focused on taking my anger out on something that wasn't living or breathing" I couldn't help but notice that he had kept a hold of my hands after he had even put a bandage on them.

"So what was the rumour?" I pulled my hands out of his and looked at them as I begun rubbing at my knuckles as if they were in pain, I'm actually surprised they weren't but had a feeling they would be later. "Dri you can tell me, surely you know by now that you can trust me"

I finally looked up at him and he looked so sincere, "someone started a rumour that I was letting Spence feed off me"

"Spence, as in Spencer Hasting your boyfriend" I nodded at him and I was surprised when anger flashed through his eyes

"This sort of thing isn't tolerated, normally we let the other comments slide through unless someone decides to report it themselves because it is a normal part of high school but this isn't. Do you have any idea who started it?"

"No I don't but you don't have to worry about this, I will be fine"

"It doesn't matter if you will be or not, we can't let it slide as teachers and it needs to be handled. Come on you should go back to your dorm and get some rest"

Nikolaus stood up and I nodded at him before following him back to the dorms, I no longer wanted to attend the party that was being thrown after the dance anymore not after hearing that rumour.

I wasn't in bed for long when my door opened and Bri climbed in bed beside me, she didn't anything but I took in the comfortable she was giving me.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved the last chapter.**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved the last chapter.**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes Bri is very naughty for fighting in front of teachers.**

 **AmyBanks1999** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are loving my stories, don't worry I was confused at first when I first joined fanfiction. I'm glad you Nik, I do as well and as for Dri and Spencer only time will tell. I know it is a bit confusing having gone from My Best Mistake to this story with the different friends but as you can see Emily made an appearance in this chapter and Stefan, James and Jeremy will appear in future chapters as well. As for what else happened while Dri and Nik were in Melbourne, there will be more information on it in later chapters. I didn't want to spend too much time on it as that night was literally a game of 20 questions and I didn't feel like writing it all. The trip to Melbourne is what makes the relationship change between the two of them, Dri did get the beautiful comment was just confused as to why he did.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Adrianna POV

When I woke up in the morning Bri was still in my bed beside me, I reached over and grabbed my phone noticing a few missed calls and unread messages some of them were from Damon and Josh checking up on me while the rest were from Spence trying to apologise for keeping it from me, I was surprised he didn't try and reach me in my dreams.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Bri finally woke up and realised I was already awake, I didn't feel like getting out of bed yet, it was Sunday and that normally meant a lazy day filled with homework.

"My hands are really sore" I lifted them up and had a look at them, they weren't sore last night but they were killing me now. I wonder if I could get dad to heal them or if he would say it was my own fault, he had heard the lecture I've had from Rose and Dimitri in the past.

"Who cleaned them?" Bri spoke while looking at my hands.

"Anastas, he found me in the gym and got me to stop before I made them worse, he then cleaned them up and asked me to tell him what happened"

"Awe how sweet" Bri teased and I gave her shove causing her to end up on the floor, she sat up and glared at me but I just laughed at her.

"It's not a big deal, I have a feeling any other Guardian would have done the same thing. Hasn't Tanner cleaned up your hands before?"

"Yeah after I got the biggest speech in the world about not taping my hands"

"I've had the same speech from Rose and Dimitri"

"Doesn't surprise me, have you spoken to Spencer?" I shook my head. "He was really worried after you left but we convinced him to leave you alone for the time being" Bri stood up and climbed back in beside me

"I just can't believe he didn't tell me himself, the rumour affects him as well"

"Look I know I can't commend him for keeping this from you but I remember exactly what you were like the last time rumours were floating around about you. You shut both Damon and I out and threw yourself into training"

I looked away from Bri remembering what happened last time, it was just before Christmas break sophomore year. I can't remember what set it all off to begin with but it ended up with me passing out from exhaustion and ended up with me going home to Court a few days earlier to rest for longer.

It was a combination of things that I was worried about that caused me to panic at the time, I'm not sure if Spence was the one that set it off but it was around the same time I met him and realised he was a Spirit user. He began calling me goldie and I was worried, it wasn't until he told me about the golden halo I apparently had I ended up dragging him to see dad.

After that I was worried about what was going to happen, we hadn't had anyone openly say anything to me about what was present in my aura mainly because dad hadn't come across another Spirit user that could see auras like he did.

There was also rumours floating around that I was stripping and putting on shows for the senior Moroi at the time, it was something I could have passed off now but at the time I was actually worried about how it was going to affect me.

It was also a combination of worry about my life, my grades and my education. I threw myself into training ignoring my friends attempts to draw me out of my own bubble that I was stuck in, I only came out once I woke up in the hospital and Alberta sent me home for a couple of days.

That period of time when I threw myself into my training was how I jumped ahead of the rest of the novices.

"Dri please don't spiral back into your bubble" I shook my head at her, I wasn't spiralling back and I wasn't going to let myself.

"I'm not Bri, I just don't know how to deal with this. This is probably the worst kind of rumour any dhampir could have"

"I know Dri and I understand but you can't shut Spencer out because he didn't tell you, you need to talk to him"

I didn't say anything to Bri, I just climbed out of my bed and grabbed my stuff before heading down the hall to the bathroom to shower.

I was surprised when I made it back to my room and found Bri still in the same spot I left her, I assumed she would have gone and gotten changed and showered like I did.

"You honestly think I'm going to leave you alone today? You're insane and I'm hurt that you don't know me that well" I shrugged at her before putting my stuff away and climbing back in beside her ready to spend the day watching T.V

Hours and who knows how many episodes later my dorm room door opened and Spence stuck his head in. "I'll talk to you later" Bri gave me an encouraging smile as she got out of my bed and left me alone with Spence.

Spence didn't say anything at first, I just sat up and he took a seat at the end of the bed and watched the T.V.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I finally spoke after I turned the T.V off grabbing his attention.

"Because I didn't want to freak you out"

"So what you just hoped I wouldn't hear the rumour at all? I had to hear it from some junior"

"I didn't want you to spiral out of control again…"

"Oh god will everyone stop with that, it's not going to happen again. I lost control once and it won't happen again"

"Dri I'm sorry alright, I just worry about you and I don't want you to lose it again"

"What do you think would have happened once I found out?" Spence shifted on the bed so he was facing me properly.

"Too be honest I hoped you didn't find out"

"Seriously? How the hell could I not find out, at least someone had the guts to tell me. You just kept it from me as if I was some precious doll that would be break at any sign of bad news but guess what I found out and I'm still sitting here perfectly fine"

"Except for your hands" Spence muttered and I shot him a look. "Sorry"

"Really? I swear this year we've had more problems than previously" Spence moved up on the bed so he was hovering above me and his face was directly in front of mine.

"I know and I'm sorry babe, I have no explanation as to why we have but as for what happened I truly thought I was doing the best thing for you. I didn't want you to freak out and spiral out of control, I was planning on telling you once the term was over and you were heading home. I hoped you being at Court for a couple of weeks will help you get over the rumour and hopefully everyone else would have forgotten it."

I shook my head, I didn't like that he had kept this from me and I meant it when I said we've had more problems this year and I didn't know how much we could handle until we broke, I was really worried.

"Dri please say something" Spence spoke softly before leaning closer to me, his face was incredibly close to mine and I almost suspected him to kiss me.

"I'm just sick of fighting with you, I'm sick of worrying that this is going to be the last time" I spoke and he softly laughed causing me to frown at him.

"I'm fighting for you, not with you. I'm fighting to keep you safe and keep you by my side, losing you is the last thing that I want and I hate…" He took in a breath obviously trying to find the right words and I just watched him. "I hate that I'm doing it wrong and what I'm trying to do backfires on me"

"You were really going to tell me before I leave on Wednesday?" I spoke softly and he nodded. "I want us to go back to normal Spence, no more secrets" I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck

"I promise babe" he gave me a soft smile before leaning down to kiss me.

"Wait…" I spoke before he pressed his lips against mine. "Is that why we haven't had sex, the rumour?"

"No, to begin with I was just enjoying the moments with you without us having sex. After a while we went back to how we were before we started having sex, it was refreshing and I was enjoying it"

"But now?" I leaned up and softly kissed his neck but he groaned and pulled away. "Why don't you want to have sex?"

"Because right now I would rather enjoy this moment" I pouted at him but all he did was shake his head before wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer to him. I quickly grabbed the remote and turned the T.V back

At some point I must have fallen asleep and I was taking in the comfort Spence was giving me having not left yet, I didn't want to let him know I was awake yet but for all I knew he was asleep as well.

I heard the door opened, I didn't know who would have come back since Bri would have waited for me to message her and Damon was most likely off with Josh. He and Josh didn't even try to sneak up to our rooms, we didn't see the point in it.

"I'm assuming you two made up?" It was Bri's voice, I wondered why she was in here.

"Yeah, I just hope it's the last. I really don't want to lose her"

"Keeping things from her won't help though Spencer"

"I know, I was planning on telling her Bri just not yesterday. I only found out yesterday morning, Bas heard it from one of the girls and he came straight to me"

"Alright, you should head back to your dorm it's almost curfew." They were silent for a few moments and I didn't feel Spence move. "I'm not going anywhere, I will stay here and make sure she doesn't spiral"

Spence softly kissed my head and shifted me so I wasn't leaning against him and he left room, "Dri I know when you're awake" Bri spoke and I opened my eyes to see her smirking at me

"How?"

"We've been friends long enough and done many sleep overs that I know when you are and aren't asleep"

"I'm not going to Spiral Bri"

"I know that but Spencer doesn't know that, he's honestly worried. When I walked in here he was watching you not the T.V, he looked absolutely worried Dri"

"I'm not going to spiral Bri, it can't happen and I won't let it" I spoke bitterly and Bri came over and sat down beside me and I rested my head on her shoulder.

"I know and as long as you don't shut us out it won't happen" was all Bri said and after that we went into a comfortable silence watching the T.V

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are having so much fun reading this and thank you for thinking I'm an amazing writing, it means a lot to hear that.**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It seemed pretty obvious for the rumours to be like that when it comes to a dhampir doesn't it?**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes what Bri did was pretty damn cute, I've had my best friend do the same thing. I've come home and found her in my bed waiting for me and I figured why not make Bri do the same thing.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Adrianna POV

Christmas break had started a couple of days ago and dad had been at his worst, Nikolaus must have gone to the other teachers and word got to dad about the rumour so since coming home dad had been on my case about if any of it was true or if I had any idea who started the rumour.

"Rose are you even listening to me?" I had stopped pacing and looked at Rose.

She had the day off and I had taken refuge in their house away from dad but she was sitting in their office doing paperwork not even listening to me.

"Dri I have so many reports to go over" she didn't even look up at me, she just continued to read the reports in front of her.

"Why can't you talk to dad? He's being insufferable about this"

"Because there's nothing to be done, I know what it's like having rumour likes these out and it deserves to be dealt with"

"Then why can't dad leave me alone, Spence hasn't done that once he hasn't even pushed or asked or even brought the stupid topic up"

"Are you or are you not having sex with Spencer Dri?" Rose finally looked up at me and I was confused, she was the one I went to when I was confused and unsure about if I wanted to have sex with Spence.

"You know this"

"I meant of lately"

She spoke and I was quiet at first, I was honestly wondering what she was getting at. "No but he said he only just found out about the rumour"

"It doesn't matter if he only just heard it, chances are there might have been another reason why he stopped having sex but then he heard the rumour. Dri he is a Moroi and him feeding is something he thinks of all the time, if he didn't think about doing that with you before the rumour chances are he is now"

"You're insane, what the hell would you know!" I yelled at Rose before turning around storming out of her house slamming every door in my path.

I ended up making my way to the gym that was housed at Court for the Guardians that lived there or even visited, I ended up making my way over to the punching bags but I stopped myself before I had even made the first punch and remembered to strap my hands.

"Why do I keeping finding you in this same situation?" I heard the voice but paid no attention to it until the incredibly good looking Greek himself was visible in my vision and I stopped punching the bag and leaned against it.

"Why do I have to have such a shitty senior year?"

"I think you're doing really well, you've only got one rumour going around and you've only been busted for what is it, 5 parties?" he had a smirk on his face

"4, I wasn't at the party after the dance" I remember the aftermath of that party, Damon wasn't too pleased.

"Ah yes, I believe both you and Bri weren't there. Tanner and myself were shocked at this news and Todd was disappointed to hear he was dealing with Damon's punishment by himself"

"I bet he was, Damon was annoyed he was alone in that" I finally had a smile on my face and he gave one back.

"Come on, come spar with me. I find sparring helps better than a bag"

"Wait is this you telling me that the big scary Greek Guardian has anger issues" I pretended to be shocked and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"I think anyone who is a decent Guardian has anger issues"

"Sure you do, I just think you have anger issues. I've seen you slip a couple of times" I smirked at him and he stepped closer to me

"You don't know anything Dri" he growled but I just grinned at him

"I believe this is you slipping" I walked away from him and stood on the mats and looked at him as if to ask if it's still what he wanted.

He walked closer to me but didn't even say anything at first or make a move to make me think we were sparring. "How did you realise I had anger issues?" he spoke softly

"I grew up at Court around people that seem to think Guardians stick to the background but being me and technically being a royal I was accepted at some events, I begun people watching since I always had to be quiet. I picked up on a few things, I believe if my life was different and dad didn't find me I would have loved to be a psychologist or even a behavioural analyst but my life is what it is"

"That still doesn't tell me how you worked it out with me?"

"Watching you and seeing how you react to certain things, especially when I'm in trouble. Even when we were in Melbourne there were a few things I noticed, if I all of a sudden ran off to have a look at something you would get annoyed and then there was the whole Nicky incident"

"Very well, come on do you still want to spar?" I nodded and we both positioned ourselves before starting off.

I landed on my back with a thud and it was only a second later Nikolaus came down on top of me, "Owe"

"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to hurt that much"

"No you're just annoyed I worked you out" I grinned at him, hoping he would realise I was messing with him, I knew he wasn't annoyed.

"Oh really? You don't think I haven't got you worked out?"

"Only if you get up first" I spoke noticing the longer we were in the situation the more awkward I felt.

"Oh right sorry" he stood up and held a hand out for me to help me up.

"So you've got me worked out have you?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he smirked at me before taking a sip of water from his bottle.

"Very well, even though you are the top of the senior class and could just as easily defend yourself, it is when things go wrong and they don't fit in with how you want your life to be you break and spiral. Even today you were distracted but it's not just that. You rely heavily on Henderson and Grayson, they're fiercely protective of you and you the same with them. It doesn't matter how much you argue with your dad, your family means everything to you and even though you won't admit it Hathaway and Belikov are your role models, you wish to be exactly like them. You want to be an accomplished and respected Guardian like them"

I looked at him not sure what to think of this information, I honestly didn't believe he had worked it out. I shook my head looking down at the bottle in my hands

"You wanted to know Dri"

I looked up at him and gave him a smile, "I know its fine I'm just shocked"

"Look I have to head off and shower before I head to the airport, you are going be alright aren't you?"

"I will be fine if it not there is always the punching bag, where are you going?"

"Just don't forget to strap them next time" he gave me a smile before he went to leave the gym and I couldn't help but notice that he completely ignored my question about where he was going.

I went back to the punching bag but was only able to get a couple of punches in before I heard the familiar Russian accent speaking Russian, there were days where I wished more than anything that I had the patience to learn Russian like right now when I wanted to know what he said but other times I didn't care.

My shoulders dropped and I leaned forward to rest my head against the punching bag, "what are you doing here Dimitri? Come to tell me I should end things with Spencer as well?" I snapped at him

I heard Dimitri take in a breath and I turned to face him, I noticed his mouth open but I cut him off first. "Don't speak in Russian, it can't always work when you want to have a rational conversation with me"

"I wasn't going too, I didn't even know that Adrian tried to convince you to end things with Hasting"

"Don't start on that, I know you hate the fact that I'm dating him"

"No I hate that you're dating in general, I've met him enough times to know he treats you just fine but Dri if this rumour has anything to it that is true you deserve better than that"

"It's not true, I was completely shocked by it all and now all my friends are concerned I'm going to spiral out of control again"

"I know and we're worried as well but surely you know that this all very similar to last time and me finding you here in the gym isn't a good sign"

"It's not similar, I was perfectly fine until the rumour came out"

"Very well" the Dimitri spoke it made me wonder if he believed me or not

"Can we spar?"

"Dri…" he warned me and I didn't like it, I hated that everyone was walking on eggshells because they were worried I was going to spiral again.

"Please, I promise I'm fine I just need to let out the anger I have. I have no idea who started this rumour and it's bugging me and I know no idea what I'm going back to one Christmas break is over"

"I can't stand here and watch you run yourself into the ground" Dimitri said sternly and I knew then and there he won't spar with me and I wouldn't be surprised if he forced me home or even convinced the other Guardians to not let me step foot in here again.

"Fine" I turned back to the punching bag with the idea of starting up again but a hand grabbed my wrist.

"You're going home Adrianna" he growled at me and that along with me full name knew I was in trouble and if I didn't go willingly I would be dragged there.

I nodded at him before walking over and grabbing my water bottle and jacket to keep myself warm as I left the gym to head home hoping dad had calmed down at all and dropped the idea of Spence being the cause behind everything.

When I made it home Matt instantly came up to me and eyed me curiously, I raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing Matty?" I spoke quietly and he frowned at the nickname but didn't say anything.

"I heard a rumour but you've been at the gym and aren't wearing make-up"

"You heard that I was letting Spence feed of me?" Matt nodded. "It's not true, someone started it. Does Nate know?" I was surprised it had made it to the middle campus, normally rumours like this just stick to the intended campus but guess the rumour being about me made its way down to the middle campus.

"No I overheard some of the girls talking about it before we left and they stopped before Nate heard them" maybe it didn't reach the middle campus and it was senior campus girls talking, I wanted to know more from Matt but I knew he wouldn't want to talk about this.

"Good, it should stay that way"

"I won't tell him but if he over hears it I can't stop it"

"I know Matty, where's dad?"

"No idea, Shane is watching me" Matt shrugged

"Where's Nate?"

"Out with mum, he needed some new clothes"

"Fair enough"

"Come play video games with me?" he pleaded with me and I could tell it was more out of boredom, ever since I smashed the T.V he doesn't like to always play with me.

"Only until Nate gets home"

"I can deal with that" he had a huge smile on his face and I followed him towards the living room. Shane didn't anything as I sat down, just nodded at me.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Thank you for saying I'm improving and I'm glad you are having fun reading this.**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ahh yes, sometimes it all ends but will it end for Dri and Spencer?**

 **Ilovesos9467** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes I can see why you would think that Spence is irritating.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Adrianna POV

"Dri are you going to talk to me at all?" dad spoke and I didn't even turn to look at him.

Christmas was a couple of days ago and I would be heading back to the academy in a couple of days and I was worried about what was going to happen with the rumour that had started before the break about Spence and I and I was still worried how things were going to go between the two of us. After the rumour coming out and me finding out that he had kept it from me things were a little tense and he was constantly by my side making sure I was fine.

"Dri please don't shut me out"

I finally turned and looked at dad while holding up the letter that was in my hands, I had finally gotten around to reading the letter that was marked to be read when you meet your father.

A lot of it was stuff I laughed at, other stuff I took to heart but was my mother right about me hating dad? I didn't think so, I loved my dad and would risk my life for his but there were moments I did question it.

Dad walked over and grabbed the letter from me before reading it, I noticed him smile at some parts or even shake his head.

When he finally stopped reading he looked up at me with a small smile on his face, "how many letters did your mother write you?"

"A few but I've only read two for now, the others like that are to be read at certain times and I haven't reached those moments yet"

"That's understandable, you know reading this and seeing that she said she was a troublemaker as well makes me realise that you were doomed from the start since I was regularly causing trouble when I was your age"

"Yes I know, I've overheard you all talking at night when you think I'm asleep"

"You really do have to stop eavesdropping"

"Why? It's the only way I find out information around here" I smirked at him and he didn't look happy.

"Adrianna we keep information from you to keep you safe" I finally sat up and looked at dad properly.

I knew his best interest was making sure I was safe since I was such unknown, Rose and Dimitri told me as such and I had overheard enough of their conversations to know, it was a bad habit that I couldn't shake.

There was something that was at risk of ruining my safety and I still hadn't gotten around to telling anyone but ever since the last one that turned up on Christmas day I have been a little worried.

"I need to show you something and please promise not to freak out"

"Dri…"

"Please dad" he nodded and I climbed off my bed heading over to where my computer was sitting at my desk and I pulled up my email and the emails from B before showing him.

It wasn't until dad got to the last one that turned up at Christmas that he really lost it, the one that turned up at Christmas said he was coming for me and I would finally be his.

Dad turned to look at me and I couldn't recall a moment I had ever seen him this angry. "Adrianna" dad growled but when I didn't say anything he took off and it wasn't long until I heard the front door slam shut.

I went and sat on my bed pulling my knees to my chest waiting for the moment I had everyone in my room wanting me to explain what was going on with the emails.

It took longer than I thought and I was just glad Ellie had taken Matt and Nate out for the day, I eventually heard the door slam again and it was shortly followed by dad yelling out for me. "Adrianna get down here now!"

I reluctantly climbed out of my bed and headed downstairs, when I saw dad sitting in the living room with Rose, Dimitri, Lissa and Christian I knew I was going to be in a lot of trouble. I stayed in the doorway and leaned against the frame knowing I would be safer away from them.

I looked at them and none of them looked too happy, this was why I kept it from them. I didn't want to worry them and up until Christmas the emails just stated that they knew what I was.

"How long has this being going on Dri?" Lissa spoke first, I didn't know if it was because she was worried about me or because she was worried that one of her people were planning to purposely hurt another.

I know I shouldn't think of this when it comes to Lissa, the amount of effort her and dad put in to figuring out what was different about me was enough for me to realise she did care about me.

I didn't want to reply at first, I knew if I didn't dad would just take my computer and open up my emails to get the information that way but I didn't know what would be worse, "since the beginning of junior year"

"Damn it, why didn't you tell us when the first one came in?" dad spoke and I was surprised he wasn't yelling

"Because I didn't think anything of it, I've received like a total of 5 emails from this one person that's it. They all said the same thing but with different wording, I know what you are. That's it, it wasn't until this one that I actually got worried"

"What if something had happened to you? If this person knows who you are surely they know where you stay during the year" dad continued still weirdly calm and I couldn't stand it.

"Then why the hell hasn't something happened yet dad!" I finally snapped ignoring the look Rose and Dimitri shared.

"I don't know but you sure as hell should have said something earlier in case something did!"

"Are you kidding me? What the hell could you have done!" dad didn't know what to say in return, he ran a hand through his hair before looking at Rose and Dimitri, I was surprised they hadn't said anything yet.

"Adrianna…" Dimitri was the one to speak but all I did was shake my head before heading towards the kitchen

"DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM US!" Rose yelled as I heard footsteps behind me.

I didn't say anything as I entered the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard before taking a seat at the breakfast bar. They all entered behind me and watched me, obviously waiting for me to say something.

"I could just as easily have you pulled from school and make you permanently live at here" dad threatened and I was completely shocked, I was that shocked that the chips fell out of my hands and landed on the floor.

"You wouldn't with 6 months left, everyone would say it's a waste of a perfectly good Guardian"

"Adrianna what makes you think you're going to become a Guardian?" Lissa spoke and for the second time I was completely shocked, why the hell was I working my ass off if I wasn't even going to get anything out of it.

"You are kidding right, I've worked my ass off to be the number one novice but yet it's just going to be a fucking waste because I won't be a Guardian, instead I will locked in some padded room because you are all fucking worried about some nameless man coming to get me. You've all fucking lost it" I shook my head before jumping off the seat and picking up the bag of chips and heading out the front door not caring how much trouble I was in right now.

It was the middle of the day so I knew the gym would be empty or relatively empty anyway, it wasn't close enough to shift changes that some Guardians would be in there so I entered the gym and walked over to the mats before lying down in the middle of them and continued to eat the chips, I just wished I had grabbed my ipod first.

I quickly sat up at the sound of the doors opening but relaxed when I saw it was only Nikolaus, I laid back down and ate some chips. I heard him walk closer and when he was standing over me I noticed a smile on his face and I couldn't help but give one back.

"What are you smiling at?" I questioned

"You, you're sitting here in the middle of the gym eating a bag of chips, it's a little odd Dri" I shrugged as I sat up and offered some of the chips to him and he graciously accepted as he sat down in front of me.

"So why are you sitting here eating chips instead of being at home working on your assignment?"

"Oh I finished that, I've got nothing else to do since I don't have my friends here and I didn't feel like going to the parties with the other kids" I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal

"Well let me rephrase why aren't you at home?" Nikolaus spoke and before I had the chance to reply the doors opened and Dimitri entered not looking too happy.

"Oh crap…" I whispered and Nikolaus turned around and looked at Dimitri before looking back at me

"Adrianna you better come home now willingly or I will pick you up and throw you over my shoulder" Dimitri threatened but I stayed sitting.

"What did you do?" Nikolaus questioned realising I must have done something while he was gone

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough" and it was true, I wouldn't be surprised if dad told Petrov about the emails and in turn Nikolaus found out because he was my mentor.

"Adrianna…" Dimitri started but I cut him off

"Don't Dimitri, you don't get a fucking say in this. You aren't my fucking father! You are all being ridicules about this!" I stayed where I was on the mats narrowing my eyes at him, I couldn't help but notice that Nikolaus had gotten up and moved.

"Fine the next time you want somewhere to stay because you're fighting with Adrian pick somewhere else that isn't my house, the next time you need help with training or your assignments find someone else" Dimitri spoke and all anger was gone from his voice, he quickly turned and left the gym.

"Fucking hell" I breathed out as I stood up and followed him completely ignoring the question Nikolaus had about what was going on.

I walked outside confused as to how I lost sight of Dimitri, the view from the gym entrance is completely bare, I would have been able to see him.

"Adrianna" Dimitri spoke and I jumped, I didn't expect him to be leaning against the side of the building.

"I'm sorry, what I said was uncalled for. Am I really not going to become a Guardian?"

"We don't know but if there is any truth to these emails you will be staying behind the safety of wards, please come home" I nodded at him and followed him home not knowing what to expect at home.

There must have been a reason only Dimitri came and found me in the gym, they all knew I had nowhere else to go since Dimitri and Rose's house was too obvious but so was the gym, I never was good at hide and seek.

I knew there had been moments in the past I had gone to Dimitri over anyone else but it was mainly to do with my concerns over training or my assignments and when it came to boys I always went to Rose.

When I made it home Lissa and Christian had left and as soon as Rose spotted me her and Dimitri left as well with no word. It wasn't until I noticed the glass in dad's hand that I was worried, he was drinking. He never drank unless it was bad, all I knew was that alcohol could numb Spirit but as for why dad didn't use Spirit or find another way to numb it I didn't know.

I walked into the living and took a seat on the arm chair tucking my legs underneath me, neither of us said anything at first. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't think anything of it"

"It doesn't matter, this is serious. What if this person actually knows you are different, you could be in a big amount of trouble"

"How?" I questioned, the way dad spoke made me wonder if there was something I hadn't realised about this whole thing.

"So many people come and go from Court, someone could have spotted you and it's not like I exactly keep a tight lease on you anymore"

Dad was right, ever since I turned 15 dad left me go off on my own around Court or spend whatever time I had with Emily or Stefan. I had walked past hundreds of people in those moments without dad or Lissa nearby to notice if they're a Spirit user as well.

"Are you really going to pull me from school?"

"No I'm sorry, you were right when you said it would be a waste of a good Guardian but Lissa was right we aren't sure if you will become a Guardian. You're at risk if we send you out from behind these wards"

I shook my head, I couldn't believe this. "I've worked so hard though dad" it barely came out as a whisper.

"I know but your safety is all of our first priority" I didn't even realise dad had moved so he was kneeling in front of me. "Dri, we will work it out, I promise. Just don't hide anymore emails from us, you don't know how worried I was when you walked out that door, I've got no idea if that B person is at Court or not"

"I really am sorry for not telling you, I honestly thought it was nothing" my eyes welled up and dad leaned over to hug me.

"It's fine we will work it, I love you" dad whispered before softly kissing my head

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**

 **Amybanks1999** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, as for the rumour it is an interesting but in a previous chapter I have explained Spencer's Spirit abilities and he is unable to heal so unfortunately that won't work and I've also stated that at this point in time Spencer is the only student Adrian is teaching in regards to Spirit but thanks for the theory, I love reading them. I understand that sometimes too much homework makes everything else hard. I like to put in Rose and Dimitri as much as I can but it's hard with Dri being at St Vladimir's and them being at Court.**

 **Jpitt** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying the twists, a lot of them are something I wanted to do in the other story but didn't for many reasons. As for Dri and Rose sparring, I've taken the idea into consideration and it may be present in a future chapter.**

 **BunnyYouRockXOX** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It's funny I've had a couple of people mention they don't like Spencer as for what the future holds of their relationship, well… just wait and see.**

 **ShannonDorf123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Adrianna POV

I shouldn't have been out here like this, it was the middle of winter and it was freezing cold but for once the sun was out. I had been smart enough to bundle up to try and keep warm.

"You should really be inside where you can stay warm" I didn't say or do anything to make it seem like I had heard Nikolaus, he walked over and sat down next to me on the bench

"So what happened over Christmas break for you to cause that much trouble?" I finally looked at Nikolaus.

We were back at St Vladimir's and classes were starting up tomorrow but I couldn't sleep, I had spent a couple of hours tossing and turning before I came out here.

"Nothing, just kept something from my family that I shouldn't have and it got blown way out of proportion"

"Then how come on the plane ride here I overheard Hathaway, Belikov and your father talking about increasing the amount of Guardians here?"

I looked at him confused, I assumed he knew enough about me to know I was special or did that get kept out of my file? I knew why I had been given him as my mentor, he was one of the best and it didn't matter that he was sent here for his three year stint. My family wanted me to have the best so I did, again this was something I shouldn't know but did anyway.

"What do you know of me? Not my personality"

"Aside from you being an Ivashkov and having the Moroi eye colour trait nothing why?"

"I'm apparently special, I'm assuming you know my dad is a Spirit user?" he nodded at me and I took a breath before continuing. "Well, some of his Spirit ability has been passed to me but we don't know how or why. I have no magic what so ever, the Spirit isn't strong enough"

"How do you know all of this?"

"One of the known Spirit abilities is aura reading, Spirit users recognise each other by this strong gold presence in their auras. Mine has gold as well but not as strong as a proper Spirit user, they don't know why yet. It's why we got paired together"

"Because despite why I'm here I've got the most amount of kills in such a short amount of time"

"Exactly but again I'm not meant to know that, someone knows about me and he's made a threat about coming after me. It's why they want to increase Guardians here so I'm protected, they don't see the point in pulling me from school with only a couple of months left."

"Increasing the amount of Guardians won't help if this person already knows you, think about it. Nearly every single one of the Guardians that do shift work know you sneak out of your dorm and every single one of them know you don't anything but sit here, most of the time you'll talk to me for a few minutes before coming inside. What if that person worked here? What if they spotted you out here, you'd be gone before we realised"

"Is this you trying to convince me to stop sneaking out" I smirked at him and he shook his head.

"This must serious if they're that worried"

"Dad seems to believe that they are a Spirit user as well, between dad and Spence chances are they would have spotted them the same way they spotted me"

"Can a Spirit user change their aura?"

I shrugged, "No idea, I don't know too much about Spirit"

"Is this all why Hasting calls you goldie every now and then?"

"How did you know?"

"I've been in your classes and overheard you and your friends in the cafeteria"

"Yes it's why Spence calls me goldie, it's how we worked out he specialized in Spirit. He can't heal but he does extremely well in his other abilities"

Nikolaus nodded, I guess he wasn't too curious in the whole Spirit thing. "Come on let's get you inside before you freeze"

"I think I'm already frozen" I laughed a little, I ended up being out here a lot longer then I intended to be.

I grabbed Nikolaus' outstretched hand and he pulled me up. "What made you think it was a good idea to come out here anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep and this normally helps" I shrugged and then we headed back to the novice dorms.

When I woke up in the morning I had a message from Spence that I must have missed the night before, I smiled at it before climbing out of bed.

 _Good morning babe, I missed you over Christmas break. I still can't believe I forgot to give you your Christmas present so I will see you at breakfast._

I didn't reply, I didn't see the point. I honestly figured he would change his mind and end up sleeping through breakfast and I would just see him at lunch but after my morning workout with Bri and Damon I was shocked to see Spence and Bas sitting at our regular table and Josh was laughing with them about something.

Bas was the one to notice me first and he winked at me before turning back to the conversation, Spence must have noticed what he did and he looked up trying to see who Bas was into this time around but he noticed me and a huge smile appeared on his face, I walked over and sat down next to him kissing his cheek.

"Morning, how come you didn't reply to my message?" Spence whispered as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and kissed my head.

"I thought you sent it last night and figured you would end up sleeping through breakfast like usual, you normally do"

"I guess" Spence grumbled as he retracted his arm and went back to his conversation, I looked over at Bri and she shrugged her shoulders but when I looked over at Damon he didn't look happy.

Nikolaus was right over Christmas break when he said that Bri, Damon and I were protective of each other, more so Damon over us but Damon's past was the reason for that. Bri and I had learnt to deal with it and normally it was fine but of lately with all my issues with Spence Damon had grown more protective and I was working harder to make sure Damon and Spence didn't fight, verbally or physically.

Half way through breakfast Spence and Bas had gotten up saying something about seeing a feeder but when Spence didn't even look my way I was worried, I got up and followed them but Spence didn't say or do anything until I made a grab for his arm in the hallway outside the feeders room.

When I grabbed his arm I must have shocked him and in turn he pinned me against the wall but when he noticed it was me he didn't loosen his grip and the anger didn't leave his face making me wonder if he knew I was following him the whole time.

"You following me back here is the last thing we need right now" he growled at me and it wasn't the usual playful growl he had, he was actually angry with me.

All of this made me wonder what happened to the smile he had when he saw me first thing this morning, I knew I was excited at seeing him for breakfast but he had been acting cold towards me since first arriving and I didn't know what to expect.

"Right, I'll just go" I spoke so quietly it shocked him and when I pushed him away from me I shocked him even more.

I left the hallway heading outside instead of going back into cafeteria not wanting to deal with the questions I knew Bri would have or even the looks that Damon had about knowing I was hurting once again because of something Spence did.

"Dri wait" I stopped walking and placed my head in my hands not wanting to deal with Spence again, not after what he just said.

"No, Spence I'm done with this. I'm sick of the fighting, the lies, the secrets, I'm just done with it all. You need to figure out what the hell you want from me because I'm sick of playing referee between you and Damon, Damon's furious that I'm constantly upset with the idea of us always fighting and you know what? I'm fucking sick of it as well. Now leave me the hell alone!" I snapped at Spence before turning and heading towards the novice dorms to grab my things before class started since I didn't have time after training this morning.

I made it to my room and I wasn't at all surprised when Spence entered behind me, I just wished he had taken what I said and listened. I was sick of us constantly fighting, it was now I realised we weren't going to make it and that's what hurt the most. After almost two years it was ending and I didn't know when it was going to happen.

Spence didn't say anything, he just gripped my wrists and pinned me against the wall before kissing me hard and deep and I couldn't help it when I fell into the kiss and kissed him back. It didn't matter how mad I was at him, this was normal for us.

He lips left mine and travelled down my neck and I couldn't help it when a moan escaped my lips and he ended up moving my legs apart and he pressed himself into me and in turn pressing me harder against the wall.

"I missed you so much" Spence whispered once he pulled his head away from my neck but he still had me pressed against the wall

"Doesn't seem like it" I managed to get out and Spence pulled away from me and my knees went out on me, I didn't realise he was the realise I was still standing upright.

"You didn't reply because you assumed I wouldn't turn up? When have I ever stood you up?"

"You haven't, it's not the point Spence. You never come to breakfast, even at the beginning of last term you skipped breakfast and we didn't see each other all summer. I figured if you wouldn't do it then why now?"

"Because I was worried for what you would be walking into during breakfast, I wanted to be there for you if it turned ugly. I heard people still talking about the rumours last night"

"That's why you snapped at me when I followed you"

"I did and I'm truly sorry for that, I just…I just didn't want people to think anything worse. I was trying to protect you and you following me won't help but did you mean what you said when you said you were done?"

I looked up at him and noticed just how worried he was but what shocked me the most was the fact that he looked like he was on the verge of tears, I had not once seen him cry even when his grandfather passed away last year.

"I don't know, I meant it when I said that you need to work out what you want with me. I can't handle us fighting anymore, I honestly think it's pointless and there will come a point where I can't handle it anymore. There's going to a point where we snap and won't be able to fix things"

"I know babe, I don't want to fight with you anymore. I know I shouldn't have gotten angry with you like I did for following me into see the feeders but I honestly didn't want to make things worse for you and us"

"I know and I trust you Spence, I just don't want to fight anymore and I mean that. Who was speaking of the rumours last night?"

"Bradley"

Bradley fucking Bradley, he was the slime of the senior royal Moroi, back before I started dating Spence he was constantly trying to win me over and when the relationship started that was when things turned nasty. I was thankful he had left me alone all year, I had hoped he had given up on me but with this well it made me wonder if he was the one behind the rumour.

What made all of this worse was that Bradley also happened to be Spence's cousin.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Adrianna POV

A week after the new term started Spence had retreated back into his own normal social life like we normally did as it seemed like the rumour had died away. I'm surprised at how well the teachers were treating this, if they heard any word of the rumour that student no matter if they were dhampir or Moroi were taken away and dealt with. I hadn't seen anything like it, but then again in all my time at the senior campus I hadn't heard of a rumour like this.

Things had been perfect between Spence and I, both of us wanted this to work and we hadn't fought since that conversation in my room on the first morning of term. I didn't know if he realised something or if he was actually trying but either way I was happy.

It was now time for the senior novices to get given their charges for the senior field experience, I was incredibly nervous. It didn't matter that I spent the last three years waiting eagerly for this moment of the year to witness just what the senior novices could do, it was different when it was going to be myself.

We knew that the major assignment we had worked on for weeks, including the weeks being Christmas break and it was handed in as soon as the break was finished helped in terms of determining who needed the most attention.

We didn't know exactly how the marking worked in terms of working out who got attacked the most but either way we were a little worried. I had ended up getting 87% but I didn't share it with my friends nor did I want to know how they did.

Everyone was having quiet conversations with the people sitting next to them, I was sitting beside Bri while Damon was on her other side and Josh was on the other side of Damon. I wasn't saying anything, the next six weeks was my chance to prove that the fact I had a human mother won't affect my ability to protect someone.

It wasn't until Alberta stood up that everyone fell silent. "All right, you all know why you are here" everyone was so quiet that her voice rang through the gym and the tension was so thick. "This is the most important day of your education before you take your final trials. Today you will find out which Moroi you've been placed with. Last week you were given a booklet with the full details of how the next six weeks will play out. I trust you've all read it by now"

Damon, Bri, Josh and I all sat down the other and read through them together making sure that all of us understood what was written in the booklet and none of us would fail the field experience

"Just to recap I will highlight the main rules of this exercise. You will be on duty six days a week, you will accompany your Moroi everywhere, to class, to their dorms, to their feedings. It's up to you how you will fit into their lives, remember some Moroi prefer you too stick to the background while others will treat you like friends. Talk to your Moroi and work out what will work best for you both to help protect them, I know some of your Moroi are participating in defensive classes or offensive elemental classes but this is an exercise to see what you know not what they know. Please remind your Moroi that they are not to get involved in the attack, they have to let you protect them" growing up in Court I had seen multiple different Moroi Guardian partnerships but I would prefer having a Moroi that I got along with.

"Attacks may come at anytime, anywhere, and we'll be dressed in all black when it happens. You should always be on your guard, remember, even though you'll obviously know it's us doing the attacking not real Strigoi you should respond as though your lives are in danger"

This is the one thing I was worried about, I shook my head trying to forget what happened when I was 8 and focused back on what Alberta was saying.

"Don't be afraid of hurting us, some of you I'm sure won't have any issues about getting back at us" it was then that the tension slowly lifted and some of the novices laughed at this or turned to their friends and whispered something. "Don't worry about holding back, you will get in more trouble if we know you are holding back. We can take the hits so give us your all"

Alberta flipped to the next page. "You will be on duty twenty-four hours a day for your six-day cycles, but you may sleep during daylight when your Moroi does. Just be aware that although Strigoi attacks are rare in daylight, it doesn't mean you will be safe during these times."

"Now that the business is out of the way, the moment you have all been waiting for. I'm going to call out your names one by one and announce who you're paired with. At that time, come down here to the floor and Guardian Bishop will give you a packet containing information your Moroi's schedule, past, magic ability and so on" all the novices began whispering as Alberta put the clipboard down and picked up other sheets of paper. I honestly hoped I got paired with someone I liked, I didn't want to have a bad time for the next six weeks and I knew my friends were the same.

"Stephanie Collins paired with Spencer Hasting" I looked over at Bri in shock, this was not going to be good for me having Collins paired with Spence

I sat there listening out for the rest of my friends name but it was when I heard my own name I was shocked. "Adrianna Ivashkov paired with Bradley Hasting"

I went up and grabbed the package that Tanner was holding and held my tongue, I wanted more than nothing to rant and rave about how I did not want to be paired with Bradley, that it was going to end badly.

Once I had the package I stormed off to have a look at it, the only things I knew about Bradley were what I've heard from Spence. Staring at the timetable not knowing how I was going to do this for six weeks I ended up shoving everything back and leaning back against the building trying to calm down before I headed back to my room and pack a bag for the week since I was lucky enough to have Sunday off but I had a feeling one day a week wasn't enough for me.

I packed my bag and left it on my bed while I went next door and collapsed onto Bri's bed, I was the last of my main group of friends to be paired up so they had no idea who I got paired with.

"Alright spit it out, who did you get"

"Fucking Bradley Hasting" I spat out and Bri was silent, she was never this silent. Bri was the girl that always had something to say, whether you were fighting against her or with her.

I lifted my head and looked at her, she looked as shocked as I probably did when I heard.

"Spencer is going to lose it"

"You don't think I know this Bri?"

It didn't matter if Spence and Bradley were related, they did not get along at all. I swear that was the only thing him and Damon agreed on, that I was to be kept away from Bradley.

"Call him now" Bri order and I rolled my eyes

"He's in class Bri, he will find out along with everyone else"

"Dri, I might not know Spencer as well as you but there is no way he will react well to this. Do you or do you not remember what happened after you first started dating" I finally sat up and looked at her and she begun packing her bag, Bri had it easy, she was paired with Izzy.

Josh had been paired with Ben Spader, who I have probably only met once or twice and Damon was paired with Bas. Damon didn't have a problem with Bas, the two of them got along extremely well considering how well Damon and Spence didn't along. The thing that would bug Damon was the fact that Collins was paired with Spence, I wasn't even happy with it.

Back in sophomore year just after Spence and I first started dating Bradley didn't take the news too well, he had cornered me in the classroom one afternoon saying he didn't appreciate being led on and then finding out I was with his cousin but I never once led him on.

I could have easily taken Bradley on but I didn't want to make things worse or knowing my own luck I would throw a punch just as teacher walked passed. Teachers were used dhampirs fighting amongst themselves same with the Moroi but when dhampirs turned on Moroi, well it wasn't always a good thing.

In the end Spence had come looking for me since he didn't see me walking out with Bri or Damon after class and since he was next door he came to see what was holding me up but when he saw me pushed in the corner by Bradley he wasn't happy. It ended with Spence and Bradley punching each other, as they were finally pulled away by Guardians Bradley ended up throwing threats my way and ever since both Spence and Damon have worked together to keep me away from Bradley but now, well I was worried for what was going to happen.

"I do but there is nothing I can about this, we can't change our assignments. I have to spend the next six weeks protecting that fucking sleaze and deal with it"

"Go talk to Anastas, tell him what happened and see if he can do anything"

"Why? Tell me why I would tell Anastas what happened"

"Oh come Dri, I know the two of you get along and I know you trust him. And come on we all know how much of a god he is, I'm sure he will have some pull with Petrov"

I went silent as Bri finally finished packing and she looked at me, was she right when she said that Nikolaus would have some pull with Petrov. There was something off about why he was sent here and it was something that made me question whether or not he would be able to change my placement so I just let the idea go and not even try it.

"Come on its time for lunch" Bri spoke and I got off her bed and quickly went into my room to grab my bag before heading downstairs hoping I didn't run into the boys.

The last thing I needed on top of Spence dealing with being paired with Bradley was Damon finding out, at least Bas would be able to keep Damon away but Spence could do as he pleased and that's what was worrying me the most.

I was grateful when I went downstairs and noticed the boys weren't waiting for us and the two of us were able to walk towards the cafeteria without the boys bugging us.

We entered the cafeteria and Bri automatically walked over to where Izzy was sitting with Eric after giving me a small smile, I knew she felt bad about the situation I was given but hey at least there was an upside to this. I was having six weeks practise of being paired with someone I cannot stand!

I was grateful that I couldn't spot Spence yet and hoped he was in with the feeders and I made my way over to where I spotted Bradley sitting with his friends.

"My, my what is Adrianna Ivashkov doing graces us with her presence, something tells me my dear cousin won't be happy with this"

"Oh shut the hell up Bradley"

"I believe you should treat me with respect Adrianna"

"We'll see…" I trailed off and turned away from him but all he did was stand up and come wrap an arm around my waist.

"We're going to have a lot of fun together" he whispered and I pulled away from him planning on giving his a dirty look but instead the next thing I knew…there was a fist in his face.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Adrianna POV

I was just shocked that someone managed to punch Bradley before I could, before I could even turn around and find out who it was there was an arm wrapped around my waist and I was pulled back against a body and the familiar cologne made me realise it was Spence.

I looked up at Spence and the amount of anger on his face shocked me, "Spence don't"

"Yeah Spence, listen to her. You don't want to do this, it will just end badly for you" Bradley spoke with a smug look on his face and Spence clenched his jaw, this wasn't going to end well

"Come on Spence, just leave it and go back to your table" I tried to push against his chest back he wouldn't budge, he finally looked down at me.

"Not without you Dri"

"I… I uh… I can't, he's my placement"

"You're fucking kidding me" Spence pushed past me and laid another punch into Bradley's face. "You fucking touch her again and I will kill you, I don't care if we're family" Spence threatened and I was finally able to get him away from Bradley

"Spence you need to leave now!" I hissed at him but all he did was look past me and at Bradley.

"Mr Hasting you should listen to Miss Ivashkov, or perhaps you and your cousin would like to join us all in Headmistress Antakov's office" I turned around and found Nikolaus standing there, I didn't like where this going and even though he didn't specifically say I was to go as well but it was implied.

"Dri go find Bas" Spence spoke but he still hadn't taken his eyes of Bradley and having me standing in between them two of them was preventing him from doing anything stupid.

"No Miss Ivashkov will be joining us, Tanner can you please find Miss Collins and inform her on where Mr Hasting will be and let her know she will find him in class at some stage today" Nikolaus spoke to Guardian Tanner, he nodded his head before turning and leaving the four of us alone.

"Dri hasn't done anything wrong Guardian Anastas, she should be able to go along with her afternoon"

"Mr Hasting something tells me she is involved with this, she will be coming with us, now lets go" Nikolaus waited until we moved first, I knew Spence wouldn't move unless I did as well.

I grabbed Spence's arm and pulled him ahead, "come on Spence" Spence didn't say anything in return, he just wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to him. I assumed Nikolaus was walking behind us with Bradley making sure nothing happened.

We made it to Headmistress Antakov's office and Spence and Bradley were sent in first while Nikolaus held me back in the hallway.

"What was all that about Dri?" Nikolaus questioned and I shook my head. "Dri, Spencer didn't look happy and he punched Bradley twice, what happened"

"Spence just wasn't happy with my placement, are we going in Nik?"

"If you don't tell me now Headmistress Antakov will find out in there"

"Just drop it" I snapped at him before walking into the office to enter in the middle of screaming match between Spence and Bradley.

I rushed over and pushed Spence away from Bradley, "Stop it Spence! This is ridicules!"

"What you trust him?"

"God no but I have no other choice" I spoke softly and Spence finally looked down at me and his face softened

"Now everyone please take a seat and please tell me what everyone is doing here" Headmistress Antakov spoke and we all took our seats and Spence made sure I was sitting the furthest away from Bradley.

"All I know is I saw Spencer Hasting punch Bradley Hasting in the face twice and Miss Ivashkov was trying to prevent Spencer from doing it again" Nikolaus spoke while looking at me, he was right when he said it would come out in here.

"Very well, Miss Ivashkov what do you have to say about what happened?"

"Spencer's just not happy about my placement for field experience with Bradley, there's nothing else to it"

"That's not true, I don't trust the prick with her" Spence shot out while glaring at Bradley and I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

"SPENCE! Just shut the hell up!" I yelled at him hoping it wouldn't come out. Very little people knew what happened and it was better to stay that way, we both agreed on that.

"No, if us telling someone what happened so will get you moved to someone else then I'm all for it and there are plenty of Moroi who didn't get a placement" Spence finally looked at me, he was actually worried about what Bradley could do.

"You're insane Spence" I shot back rolling my eyes.

"Will someone care to elaborate on what is going on here?" Headmistress Antakov questioned while looking between us all

"Sophomore year…"

I cut Spence off. "Shut the hell up Spence" I hissed at him but he ignored me and kept going

"…I found Dri cornered in a classroom by Bradley and he was making threats at her, he wasn't happy about the two of us dating"

"Very well, Miss Ivashkov if you head to the gym I will speak with Guardian Petrov about changing your assignment and someone will come find you and inform you of your new placement. Spencer you will serve two detentions for punching Bradley, you can head off to class. Bradley you and I will be having a few words, you may all leave"

I shot Spence a look before getting up and storming out of the office, I headed straight towards the gym knowing if I went anywhere else I would get in trouble. I heard someone following behind me but I didn't want to deal with Spence or even Nikolaus if he was following me.

"Dri stop" I heard Spence's voice as he grabbed my arm

"Don't, I could have handled the next six weeks dealing with Bradley. Do you honestly think Bradley would have done something, or do you not trust me?"

"No I don't trust him"

"Then you should have trusted me, if anything had happened I would have gone to someone. All he had done so far was mention about us having fun, for all I knew was that he was doing that to mess with you or had hopes for messing with you" I pulled my arm out of his grasp and begun running for the track instead of the gym.

I was on my second lap when someone slipped in beside me, I looked over at them and noticed it was Nikolaus. I stopped and looked at him almost expecting him to ask what happened.

"You want to keep running?" he spoke and I was grateful he didn't ask for specifics, I started running and Nikolaus continued to run beside me.

We ran in silence and it wasn't until the bell ran indicating the end of fifth period that I stopped and realised just how hard I was pushing myself. We were trained to run long distance as long as we contained our speed but I was pushing myself to run faster then what I normally would.

I dropped and laid down on the ground with my hands above my head in hopes of catching my breath, I was shocked when Nikolaus came laid down beside me struggling to catch his breath as well.

"I would have thought you would have been fine running at that pace" I was finally able to speak, I looked over at him and he had a small smile on his face as he looked at me.

"No one can run for long at the pace, I was just about to give up when you did"

"You didn't have to keep running with me though Nik"

"It's fine, I hoped that if I kept running with you that you wouldn't push yourself too far"

"I'm not going to spiral out of control"

"I know, now about what happened" I sat up not really want to deal with this.

"Which one? What happened sophomore year, what happened at lunch or what happened just then?"

"All of it I suppose but more so what happened sophomore year, is there more to it then what Spencer said?"

"No that's all it was, Bradley had me cornered and I could have pushed him away if I had too but I didn't want to make it worse. I thought after he got out what he wanted to say he would leave me alone"

"Did he?"

"No, we shared a class sophomore and junior year so there were snide comments here and there but we don't have a class together this year, we haven't spoken"

"Until today when you were paired with him?" I nodded at him and it was then his face softened, more so then it usually did.

Most Guardians I interacted with always had their mask up aside from Rose and Dimitri but they were family, they didn't keep their masks up around family unless I had done something wrong but Nikolaus… Nikolaus was different. He rarely had his mask up, there was always emotion written across his, especially more so since our trip to Melbourne.

"Are you going to be alright if you can't be paired with someone else?"

"Yeah, I don't actually think Bradley will try anything and I am stronger then him. I would have been fine for six weeks, Spence just overreacted"

There was a beep and Nikolaus pulled his phone out of his pocket and read it before standing up and holding his hand out to help me up, "Come on Guardian Todd is waiting for us in the gym"

"I'm not going to be in trouble for coming here instead of the gym am I?" I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up

"Not at all, I told them you would most likely go somewhere else and that they should send me a message when they had figured it out" I nodded and it was then that the weird thing happened.

Nikolaus reached over and brushed my hair behind my ear as well as running his fingers through it, he must have realised my confusion and just gave me a small smile. "You had snow in your hair"

"Oh…"

"Yeah come on" when he walked over I quickly bent over and shook out any remaining snow before throwing my hair in a messy bun and following him towards the gym.

When we entered the gym Alberta was standing there with Todd talking about something but they immediately stopped when they noticed us.

"Miss Ivashkov I do wish you had of said something in sophomore year" Alberta spoke, I wasn't going to hear the end of this now it had come out

"I honestly thought nothing would have come of it and it didn't"

"Very well, now we don't enjoy putting our Guardians through an uncomfortable placement if it isn't needed so we have managed to switch your placements around"

"You didn't have to do that, I would have been fine"

"Yes but I don't think we need any more fights between the Hasting cousins"

"Understandable Guardian Petrov, who am I paired with"

"Cooper Westerfield, here if you information packet" I grabbed it and opened it too read through the information.

Cooper just so happened to be in Spence's main group of friends and it made me wonder if there was a reason I was placed with Cooper but I let slide as I read through the packet. I only knew of what Cooper's seventh period was since we shared it and I knew I got along with Cooper.

I was glad I was able to spend this time with Damon but the one downfall was that Spence would spend more time with Cooper so in turn with me also meant I would be spending more time with Collins and I was not looking forward to that.

I let out a sigh and placed everything back in the packet, "everything alright Miss Ivashkov?" Alberta spoke and I turned around, I thought her and Todd had left

"Everything's fine, I have no problem with Cooper. It's just Stephanie Collins, she's paired with Spence and Spence and Cooper are friends but I'm sure everything will be fine" I gave them all a smile but Nikolaus raised an eyebrow at me meaning he didn't believe me.

"Very well, you better head off to sixth period and good luck"

I nodded at them before leaving and heading towards the building that housed the classrooms in search of Cooper's current class and who would be in it with him.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Adrianna POV

When I entered the classroom I was thrilled to see Damon leaning against the back wall, I knew I wouldn't have to deal with Spence in this class since at this time we would be in our normal Animal Behaviour class that we shared during sixth period.

I gave Cooper a smile as I walked over to where Damon was standing.

"What happened between Spencer and Bradley?"

"Spencer overreacting to my placement with Bradley so now they've switched me and I'm with Cooper"

"Perfect, you can make sure I don't kill Collins" Damon smirked at me and I returned it

"Only if you stop me from killing Collins as well"

"Oh we are both screwed" he spoke and I let out a small laugh before we returned our attention back on the classroom.

Damon and I had made it through the rest of the afternoon and we were surprised at how easy it was for us to not snap at Collins.

When Dinner came around we were all sitting at the table eating but what I found weird was the kid that was sitting by himself, I had heard rumours of a new kid but I haven't seen or heard anything else.

"Everything alright babe?" Spence whispered in my ear before kissing my head, I looked up at him and smiled before going back to my dinner.

All throughout dinner I kept having that weird sensation that someone was watching me but whenever I looked up no one was, Spencer must have realised what was going and he looked at me with concern.

"I have this weird feeling that someone is watching me"

"Babe you're being silly"

"Please check out the new kid" he let out a breath and I knew he was frustrated, I silently pleaded with him and he eventually caved and focused on the new kid.

It didn't take long but Spencer instantly tensed before wrapping an arm around me protectively, I looked up at him but he was staring at the new kid, I followed his eye line and the new kid was watching us. I found all this incredibly creepy but Spence wasn't saying anything.

"Spence…"

"He's a Spirit user" he whispered in my ear and I instantly tensed, I was worried about what this would mean, hell could this kid even see auras.

I wanted to talk to dad about this but I knew I wouldn't get the chance until the following Sunday or hopefully Spence could get something out of him before then.

After dinner Cooper wanted to head back to his room and finish his homework in silence and I just had to sit there completely bored but Spencer had started sending me messages.

 _So I spoke with the new Spirit user, he said that your dad had already spoken to him about you. He said he was just watching you because he was curious about your aura and the gold in it._

I scratched my head and looked up at Cooper, he was oblivious to my texting.

 _So dad went and told some stranger about me?"_

 _I don't know babe I won't know until I speak with Adrian in class tomorrow but I will find out what's going on, I won't let anything happen to you_

It was the next afternoon and Damon and I were leaning against the back wall in the library while Bas and Cooper were sitting at a table doing homework, the one thing we were thrilled about during field experience was the no homework so we did not have any sympathy towards Bas and Cooper while they were doing homework.

Spence had walked in and headed towards where Bas and Cooper were sitting, I elbowed Damon when I noticed the look on his face at the sight of Spence.

"Apart of you making it through this is playing nice with Spence"

"I know it's just hard and him being paired with Collins makes it worse"

"Yes well you're paired with Bas, Spencer's best friend so you actually have to play nice with him. For us to pass we don't have to play nice with other novices, just help each other out when it's needed"

"I know this Dri, it's just Spencer. You know we don't get along"

"I know Damon and I'm not asking you too, I'm just saying if you want to pass you have to play nice. Spencer knows this and he knows I won't be happy if he makes this hard for you"

"Thanks Dri" Damon gave me a smile and we both fell into silence as we watched our Moroi

"Adrianna can we talk?" I turned and found Emily standing there, Damon gave her a smile before turning and leaving to give us some privacy

"Sure what's up?"

"Did you know the rumours have started up again?"

"Yes I did and there is nothing I can do about it, how are things on your front?"

"Fine, I guess I don't really know"

"What do you mean?"

"Reynolds is being weird, she is oddly quiet"

"Ahh and it's the whole calm before the storm"

"You've had those moments with Collins?"

"I have but you should be fine with Reynolds we all know she will be lucky to graduate" Emily smiled at my comment knowing it was true.

"Your right, how's field experience going?"

"Yeah good just a little different, it's different being involved then watching from the sidelines"

"I will have to wait till next year to see"

"Yes you will and I'm sure you will do fine" I looked at her and gave her a smile but I noticed her looking elsewhere, I followed her line of sight and noticed she was looking at the new kid.

I had learned his name was James Lazar, he transferred here because of his Spirit ability but Spencer wouldn't tell me what his abilities were something about how I shouldn't be worried and he won't say anything to me.

"You should go talk to him"

"What makes you think that?"

"Oh come Emily, he's hot. What's the worst that could happen?"

"He could turn around and tell me to fuck off"

"Or you two could end up falling in love, you will have such pretty babies" I grinned at her and her face went bright red

"Maybe another time, I should go anyway since I've got homework, see you around Adrianna"

"Bye Emily" I watched as she left the library and noticed her send one more look over at James but it was then that James looked up at me, he gave me a smile before focusing back on the papers in front of him.

I shook of the weird feeling I had about him and put my attention back on the boys in front of me and looking as to where Damon went.

"What were you and Ayles talking about?" I jumped at Damon speaking, I had noticed him come and stand beside me

"Bloody hell Damon, Emily was just letting me know the rumours had started up again in case I hadn't heard and then we were talking about the new kid"

"Which new kid?"

"Seriously Damon? The kid sitting by himself over there"

"Oh him, I overheard Spencer and Bas talking about him but I couldn't gather what they were saying"

"He's a Spirit user"

"Oh and Spencer asked Adrian about him because of you" I nodded at him and it was then Damon knew this was something I didn't really want to talk about anymore.

The following morning I followed Cooper towards the Moroi gym for his Moroi body combat class, I was a little worried as to how this class was going to go because of everyone that was in it.

I entered behind Cooper and headed towards where Bri and Damon were standing and talking, "What are you two talking about?" I spoke as I step in beside Bri giving both her and Damon a smile.

"We were curious to see what everyone is like in terms of combat, we've only heard stories" Bri replied

"She's right and it's the same with them, they've only heard stories. Yes we may fight between ourselves in the halls and courtyards but it's different, when it comes to field experience we get see what everyone can do"

"It makes sense, I'm just worried about Bradley and Spence being in the same class…" I spoke before trailing off and looking over at where Spence was standing with Bas and Cooper sending daggers at Bradley who either didn't notice or just plain didn't care.

"I doubt Mr Fields will let the two of them beat each other senseless" Bri replied but by the look on Damon's face, he was a sceptical like I was.

"I don't know Bri, you didn't see the two of them yesterday or even hear the conversations I have, remember I'm paired with Bas, I hear things the two of you don't" Damon spoke and I nodded in agreement, I was curious as to what some of the things he would have heard and he had only been with Bas for 24 hours but that would have to wait.

"What have you heard about Dri then?" Bri questioned and I hung my head but Damon just laughed before patting me on the back. It was then I was truly hating that Damon was paired with Bas.

The period was almost over and I was impressed with some of the Moroi, they were doing remarkably well in this class. We all knew that if they came against a dhampir they would most likely lose same with a Strigoi but they would be able to hold of the Strigoi until their Guardian could help them, or they could run away if they didn't have a Guardian.

I had been watching Spence with a close eye making sure he didn't do anything stupid with Bradley, I had no idea what was going through Spence's head after what happened with Bradley yesterday and I knew I wouldn't have the chance to ask him until Sunday when we could have been alone or if he came and crashed on Cooper and I but then again I didn't want Collins to be present for that conversation.

"Dri…." Damon's voice pulled me from my thoughts and I looked over at where he was looking and I was disappointed to see that Spence had made his way over to where Bradley was standing.

I went to make my way over there but Damon grabbed my arm as Bri looked over at me with a question on her lips. "Don't Dri, you could fail if you intervene with this"

"But aren't we suppose to stop Moroi from getting hurt"

"Yes and right now that is Collins issue not ours, we have to stand back and make sure nothing happens to Bas and Cooper, they are our responsibility right now not Spencer and Bradley.

Damon was right, I couldn't intervene unless Cooper got involved. I looked over at Cooper but him and Bas weren't even looking at what Spence was doing, it was almost like they knew what was going to happen and they either didn't care, or they were asked not to get involved.

"Dri you need to calm down, let Spencer take care of himself" I heard Bri's voice but I didn't look at her, I couldn't tear my gaze away from the two of them.

It wasn't until Bradley threw a punch aiming for Spence's face that I went to go over there and it took both Bri and Damon to hold me back. "Let me go" I growled at them but neither of them did let me go or say anything.

After that the two of them were continuously throwing punches back and forth between them and it didn't take long for Mr Fields and a couple of the Guardians that were present in this class to pull them apart.

As Spence was dragged past me I couldn't help but notice the pure look of anger on his face and I was curious as to what was said between the two of them before the first punch was thrown and I knew I wouldn't find out until the day was over.

It wasn't until later that night that I was finally alone with Cooper, him and Bas had spent the entire afternoon and evening together knowing as soon as we spilt both Damon and I would question what the hell happened earlier today.

I hadn't seen Spence since he was taken out of class and something tells me both him and Bradley were put on lock down for a while.

"Cooper what the hell happened this morning and don't say nothing, I was there and I saw it. I saw Spence walk over to Bradley and the two of them talked before Bradley threw the first punch" I questioned as soon as the door was shut.

"I don't know what to tell you Dri"

"No you do, both you and Bas weren't watching and something tells me you know why Spence walked over there"

"All I know is what happened yesterday, I don't know why Spencer went over to Bradley this morning. I haven't seen him all day just like you, if you want to question someone ask Bas he will know more than me" Cooper snapped back and I knew straight away that if I asked more questions it will just make things worse.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Adrianna POV

He trailed kisses down my cheek, neck and along my collar bone and a moan escaped my lips. Something was different about the lead up to sex with Spence this time but I didn't question it, I just wrapped my leg around his waist and gripped his hair with my hand as he started palming my breast.

The kisses had stopped and I wanted to let out a complaint for the lack of connection but then Spence spoke, "I love you Dri".

The voice didn't match, I opened my eyes and came face to face with Nikolaus.

And that was when I woke up in my bed panting completely confused as to what the deal was with my dream.

I reached over and grabbed my phone to check the time, it was early but hopefully not early enough that Bri would still be awake.

Yesterday was the first day off on our field experience and we were allowed to sleep in our own beds last night and we just had to meet our Moroi's in the cafeteria for breakfast otherwise we would fail.

Things had been alright in the past week, Collins had been kept quiet with the knowledge that no one wanted her there. Spence kept making sure that she was in the background while Damon and I were allowed to stay up front but most of the time Damon preferred to be in the background away from Spence.

I still had yet had the chance to ask Spence what happened with Bradley early in the week as yesterday I spent the day with Bri, Damon and Josh instead of him and he understood. It didn't matter if we didn't have time alone during the week I still got to see him where as I barely got to see Bri or Josh.

Thinking of Spence just brought back more confusion of my dream and I really needed to talk to Bri and I finally got a reply from her, she was awake but I didn't reply to question I just got up and headed to her room.

I didn't say anything when I entered Bri's room, I just started pacing not knowing what to say.

"Dri what's going on, I could be sleeping right now" I finally stopped and looked at Bri and the look on her face didn't help me right now

"Right and I'm sorry about that…"

"Dri what is going on?"

I was silent at first, not knowing what to say and she eventually gave me made me speak, "I had a sex dream"

"Oh come on Dri, we've all had those and you're with Spencer it would be weird if you didn't"

"Are you kidding me? It wasn't even with Spencer, would it still be weird if I said it was a teacher?"

"Well if you said it was Mr Hotcher then I would throw up" I had to laugh at that, Mr Hotcher was our freshman math teacher and he was old, like real old for a Moroi. He ended up retiring that following June and rumours were he couldn't handle having a class again with Bri, Damon and myself.

"No it wasn't but thanks for the laugh"

"Then who Dri"

"Anastas…" the look on Bri's face shocked me, I didn't expect it but after a minute or so she smiled.

"Oh come on Dri, I think every girl in our year both dhampir and Moroi alike have had a sex dream about Anastas"

"Have you?"

"Yeah like last year, you're a bit behind" I hated that she was still smiling at me

"Come on this isn't funny, I'm with Spence. I'm meant to be having dreams like that about Spence not my mentor"

"You're incredibly smoking hot Greek mentor who's accent just makes me want to drop my pants" Bri grinned and I shook my head.

"Come on please try and understand my issue about this"

"Are you planning on telling Spencer?"

"No but…"

"But what Dri? If you don't plan on telling him then no foul, nothing has happened between the two of you right?"

Well unless you count that weird moment on the first day of field experience but I wasn't planning on telling her that. "No not at all, it's not allowed and I've grown up witnessing the repercussions of a relationship like that"

"Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you that you are getting bored with Spence and you need someone hotter to help get you off" she winked at me and I groaned before putting my head in my hands.

"Bri this isn't helping"

"What would you like me to say? I don't see a problem with this at all, I wouldn't even be surprised if Spence had sex dreams about other people"

"So what you think I should just keep this to myself and not tell him?"

"Exactly"

"Fine what about the part when I dreamt he said that he loved me? I don't even do that with Spence, hell Spence and I haven't even said that yet!" her face dropped at that obviously not expecting me to say that or even something like that.

Her mouth opened and shut a couple of times trying to speak but nothing came out, in the end she scratched her head and shrugged her shoulders at me

"You are no help!" I exclaimed before deciding to lay on the floor and it didn't take long for her to join me on the floor.

"I'm sorry but come on even I don't dream about that, do you have feelings for Anastas? I know you spent that time in Melbourne together and you spend more time with him then other seniors do with their own mentor"

"I'm with Spence Bri"

"It doesn't mean you can't fall for someone else, after the year you and Spence have had do you still honestly believe you two will last?"

"No, I've been worried that something will come between us and it will be the end. I've told him this and I can't stand the fighting anymore, we've fought more this year than previous years"

"I know but maybe this is the point where you aren't feeling something for Spencer but instead for someone else, it may not necessarily be Anastas but maybe someone"

"This is insane, I'm going to the gym. I will see you at breakfast" I spoke before quickly getting up and leaving her dorm and heading to my own to get changed and leave.

I had been in the gym for a bit and my phone had gone off multiple times, I had been ignoring the numerous phone calls coming my way. Most of the calls had been from Bri but I didn't want to answer them and it wasn't until Spence started calling me that I felt this knot in my stomach.

I didn't want to speak to Spence right now, I needed to work out what was going on in my head. I had no idea if what Bri said was right, could I possibly be falling for someone else and that dream was my subconscious' way of telling me that. Did I really not want to be with Spence anymore?

"Dri what's wrong?" I hung my head at the sound of Spence's voice, I should have known that me ignoring his calls would make him think something was wrong and he would come find me.

"Nothing for you to worry about" I turned around and gave him a smile but the look he gave me told me he wasn't buying my line. "I promise Spence"

"Then why were you ignoring my calls babe?"

"Because I was in here, I don't get enough free time to be in here as much as like. Why are you in here?" he smiled as he walked closer to me and stopped when he was standing in front of me

"Because I don't get enough time alone with my girlfriend" I smiled at him and tilted my head up so I could kiss him

"Maybe you should go find her instead of kissing me" I smirked at him and he shook his head.

"Maybe I prefer kissing you instead but only if you tell me what is wrong"

"I've just got all this stuff going on in my head and I need to sort them out, I promise I'm fine otherwise"

"Babe…."

"Don't Spence, I promise and I could just as easily kick your ass out of this gym"

"I would rather have you press me against the floor" he whispered in my ear before softly kissing that sweet spot by my ear and I shivered

I wrapped my arms around his neck and softly ran my fingertips along the exposed part of his neck, "that would be a lot of fun wouldn't it?" I spoke softly with a smile on my face and Spence just nodded his head before tilting his head down and pressing his lips against mine.

"Are we really going to have sex in here?" Spence spoke when he pulled away and I laughed at him

"God no, anyone can walk in here and we should probably head to breakfast. I don't really want to fail" I pulled away him and he pouted at me. I placed a hand on his cheek and gave him a soft kiss. "We will get some time alone and there is only 5 weeks left, summer break is longer that that"

"Yes but I almost died without you during summer" he complained and I laughed again

"You will be fine, I've been meaning to ask though. What happened between you and Bradley last week?" I looked over at him but all he did was pull me close against him and kiss the top of my head.

"Nothing for you to worry about babe"

"Spence tell me"

"No now drop it" he growled and I pulled away from him

"Fine then" I snapped back before turning around and focusing on the punching bag.

"Babe I'm sorry for what I said but it really isn't anything for you to worry about"

"Whatever, come on I'm hungry" I grabbed his hand and gave him a forced smile

"Alright let's get some good into you because I do not like you when you're hungry" he had smirk on his face and I pretend to be hurt but all he did was softly kiss my head before leading me out of the gym.

Classes were finished for the day and I was heading towards the Moroi dorms with Cooper, he wanted to return to his room to grab his things and change before heading to the gym specifically built for the Moroi.

After the Moroi begun having defence classes they had their own gym built on their side of the grounds closer to their dorms and feeders. Cooper was in the same defence class as Spence and I was surprised at how well he was doing in his class.

"So what are my chances of taking you in a fight?" Cooper questioned while sneaking me a look and I laughed

"Come on Cooper, I've been training harder then you. If I wasn't the top of the novice class then maybe but come on…" I trailed off as I noticed the black figures coming our way.

"I see them too Dri, I can be just as good a novice"

"Yes but this is my assessment not yours, you aren't allowed to fight" I didn't look at him, I couldn't take my eyes on the figures but one disappeared and went elsewhere hopefully towards someone else while one kept coming towards the two of us.

"I know this Dri" he spoke but I barely heard him, I was too focused on the Guardian coming our way pretending to be a fake Strigoi and it wasn't until it was closer that I realised it was Nikolaus.

Nikolaus must have noticed that I noticed him, he came running at me and all could do was dodge and push Cooper out of the way. I kept Cooper behind me while blocking Nikolaus' attacks while looking for an opening against him.

This went on for a while and I was getting exhausted, I had even taken a few hits to my ribs and I wouldn't be surprised if there was damage. We were circling each other and it was almost like we were back in the gym and I just had to find the opening to kill him.

I was eventually able to get the drop on him and was able to stab him with the blunt stake we were given for the exercise, my shoulders drop and it was then I realised just how exhausted I was. Cooper helped me up and it was then I realised just how much pain I was in, I placed my hands on my thighs and doubled over in pain.

"Dri are you alright?" Cooper questioned but I couldn't reply

"Mr Westerfield continue on with your day, I will take Miss Ivashkov to the hospital to get looked at and she will come find you later"

I didn't hear Cooper's reply but I heard him walk away and then Nikolaus placed a hand on my back, "Dri I need you to stand up, I will help you walk alright?" I nodded and slowly stood up, gritting my teeth together to prevent the hiss of pain escape.

"Have you ever broken ribs before?" he spoke as we slowly begun walking to the hospital, I shook my head at him. "You're doing well considering, the first time I broke my ribs I had to be carried to the hospital. What's the most painful thing you've broken?"

I was silent at first, I didn't want to speak, I was trying to keep my mouth shut. I thought if it opened I would start complaining about the pain and I didn't want that.

"When I was 8 a Strigoi stepped on my leg and broke the bone in half, the pain was insane so much worse than this"

"That's incredibly unlucky, tell me about the attack" I realised then what he was doing, he was trying to pull my focus and we were walking incredibly slow.

I was quiet to begin with, I didn't want to talk about that day. It was the most scared I had ever been. "Dri you can tell me this" his voice was so soft and calming

I nodded, "I wanted to go ice skating but there aren't any lakes at Court, Rose and Dimitri both had the day off and took me off the grounds so I could go. We weren't too far from Court but we were attacked by Strigoi, it was the first time I had seen them up close and I remember being terrified. At one point both Rose and Dimitri were fighting them thinking that's all there was but another one came out of nowhere and grabbed me, my screaming distracted them for a moment and it was then the Strigoi realised I was meant to be protected, it stepped on my leg snapping the bone in half. I can't remember how long I was screaming for but I eventually passed out and when I woke up it was a few days later and my leg was healed perfectly"

"At least you came out of it alive, come on we've just got two steps and then we are at the hospital" I nodded at him and let him lead me into the hospital.

When I was lying down on the bed I finally got a good look at Nikolaus, he had a spilt eyebrow and the beginning of a black eye. "I'm so sorry Nik"

He shook his head, "don't be silly Dri, injuries are bound to happen I'm sorry for breaking your ribs. Just lay here while I get the doctor"

I nodded at him, I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes hoping to focus on something else instead of the pain coming from my side but I didn't expect to slip into blackness.

When I finally came to I was glad to not be in pain anymore and I felt someone brush my hair aside and softly kiss my forehead, I slowly opened my eyes and found Spence leaning over me.

"You're awake" Spence smiled as he softly kissed my forehead again before sitting back down in the chair.

"I am how long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of hours, how are you feeling?"

"Fine considering, please tell me that there is some new miracle drug that can heal bones and dad didn't do this" Spence didn't look at me or speak, giving me my answer. "Spence how could you let him?"

"How could I let him? I didn't even know you were in here until after dinner and plus he didn't do it alone"

"That new kid? He can heal?" I knew straight away it wasn't Spence that helped dad, he couldn't heal anything not even a plant and apparently that was easier to heal then a Moroi or dhampir.

"He can, I don't know much more then that but they worked together to heal your ribs so it wasn't that taxing on both of them"

"Alright, I'm sorry I accused you of letting dad do this"

"It's fine, look I have to go it's almost curfew. I will see you in the morning"

"Goodnight Spence" I smiled at him as he leaned over and kissed me

"Goodnight Dri" he stayed there with his head hovering over mine for a few moments and I thought he was going to kiss me again but instead he spoke. "I love you Dri"

What the actual fuck…

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Adrianna POV

As soon as the dream appeared I knew straight away Spence had pulled me in and I had no idea what to expect with him, it wasn't long after he dropped the bombshell of him saying he loved me that I had fallen asleep, in fact I believe I fell asleep panicking over what I was going to say to him the following day.

Spence made us appear in some grassy area covered with flowers and it was stunning, I twirled around taking it all in and I eventually found Spence sitting on a blanket with a smile on his face as he watched me, I gave him a smile but stayed where I was.

"You not going to join me?" he questioned and I slowly made my way over there, I had to make sure he didn't realise something was wrong because I didn't know what to say if he asked.

"You haven't pulled me into a dream for months"

"I know but I was worried about you and I got to barely see you before I had to leave" I sat down beside him and he instantly grabbed my hand.

"Surely you know I'm fine since dad and that new kid healed me"

"I know Dri but it's not just that, when I told you I loved you you panicked" I didn't know what to say, I just stared at him. "There it is again"

"What am I meant to say to that Spence?"

"Maybe say it back?"

"What you think that because you say it I'm just meant to automatically say it back?" I couldn't believe he thought this.

"Dri this is insane, we've been together for almost 2 years"

"Doesn't mean I'm ready to say that, you're insane if you think you saying it first makes it justified for me to say it back!" I yelled at him and it was then the dream started changing, it was then I regretted confronting him like this. I had always hated these dreams when he was annoyed.

"Spence you need to calm down"

"Why because my own girlfriend doesn't love me?" the scenery changed and it was then I stood up

When the dreams changed like this he couldn't see what happened, it was like my own personal nightmare and I made the mistake of angering him in a dream once before and I was taken back to the moment when I was eight and when the frozen lake appeared along with the Strigoi I started panicking.

"Please Spence, you can't see what I can. Please calm down and we can rationally talk about this when we are both awake"

"Why would I do something like that? Why would I even want to talk to you rationally about this?" I stared at him confused while keeping an eye on the Strigoi coming at me.

"So what you're going to break up with me?"

"You know what, maybe I will!" and just like that as the Strigoi tried to make a grab for me the dream disappeared and I woke up in the bed with tears in my eyes.

"Are you alright?" I jumped at the sound of Nikolaus' voice, I turned my head and found him sitting in the chair beside my bed.

"What are you doing here?"

"My shift ended and I wasn't quite ready for bed so I came to see how you were doing, your dad isn't too happy I broke four of your ribs. Maybe we should focus on blocking those attacks" he had a smirk on his face but I just reached up and wiped my tears away. "Again I ask are you alright?"

"Yeah just a bad dream"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No thanks, I think I'm just going to try and get some more sleep. Goodnight Nik"

"Goodnight Dri" I gave him a smile as I curled back up in the bed and attempted to get some sleep.

I was discharged just before breakfast the following morning, I quickly headed to my dorm to shower and change not wanting to run the risk of running into Spencer while heading towards Cooper's dorm.

When I entered the cafeteria I kept an eye out for both Spencer and Cooper and just hoped they wouldn't be sitting together but they were and I did not like the idea of this, I spotted Damon leaning against the side wall eating an apple and I decided to do the same thing instead of joining them at the table like I normally did.

"Why aren't you sitting at the table?" Damon questioned when I leaned against him and rested my head against his arm.

"Don't feel like it"

"Right and tell me why Spencer is shooting daggers my way?"

"I have a feeling there at me"

"Why what happened this time?"

"He told me he loved me and I didn't say it back, this caused a huge fight and then I think we broke up, mind you this fight happened in a dream so of course I had to fight with him and witness Strigoi running at me"

"If we weren't in the middle of field experience I would go over there and beat the living shit out of him right now" Damon growled and I had to grab his arm to calm him down

"I know, I want to go over there and confront him about it but I can't, it would cause a fight and most likely a fail as well. We've worked too hard to just fail because we were too hot headed to stay out of a fight"

"Have you told Bri?"

"Not yet, I was going to wait till third period, Cooper and Izzy share a class without the rest of them so Bri and I will be alone" Damon nodded and we stay liked that during breakfast.

I looked around the hall and noticed Bri sitting at our usual table with our Moroi friends but she was watching me instead of paying attention to their conversation, I knew she was worried and I knew as soon as it was third period I would be hounded with questions.

I made the mistake of looking over at the table and Spencer just looked plain pissed off before looking over at the rest of the boys, Bas looked my way but I shook my head. I guess Spencer hadn't told Bas what happened.

Second period had ended and Cooper said bye to Spencer and Bas while the two of us headed towards third period, at first neither of us said anything.

"Are you going to tell me what happened with you and Spencer?" Cooper had stopped walking and finally broke the silence.

"If he won't tell you I don't see the point"

"Come on it's going to make things awkward, it's already bad enough that Damon and Spencer don't get along, this will be worse if you and Spencer aren't getting along and we have to worry about Damon and Spencer partaking in a fist fight"

"Damon and I aren't going to risk failing by doing something so stupid Cooper, come on we should get to class otherwise you'll be late" I looked at him and waited until he started walking, if this was any other situation I would have taken off but I can't.

I ignored Cooper as we entered the classroom and I walked straight over to where Bri was standing in the back, she gave me a look but didn't say anything.

It wasn't until the Moroi had begun working in pairs that she finally said something, "what happened?"

"I think he broke up with me" Bri looked at me in shock, yes we had our problems but she must have thought we could make it through them like we had previously.

"What happened?"

"Long story short, he told me he loved me and I didn't say it back, we fought and then he broke up with me"

"When?"

"He said he loved me in the hospital last night and the fight was in a dream"

"Oh, Dri I'm so sorry" Bri grabbed my hand gave me the small bit of comfort that she was able to give me in this situation and it was in that moment I had to try my hardest not to cry.

All I had to do was get through the next few days and I will be fine when Sunday came, I would be able to escape Spencer and the rest of the boys and take out my anger in the gym.

It didn't help that Spencer wouldn't say anything to me, he just ignored me or tried to spend time away from Cooper when he could, Damon noticed it was hard on me but there was nothing neither of us could do.

Sunday came and I was grateful, I woke up in my spot on the floor in Cooper's room and quickly left heading towards the gym. I had tender spots across my body from the fights I had participated in during the week and I wasn't surprised when I saw the bruises on my body.

I was the top novice and that meant something, it meant I had to prove I was just as good as my grades had shown and I was getting attacked the most. I thought maybe that's why I had been given Moroi's that participated in their own defence class but I pushed that thought aside as I entered the gym.

I was grateful to find it empty and it meant I could have the place to myself to take out my frustrations.

I heard the door open and I just assumed it was another novice coming in to get some training done but when I turned around to grab my drink bottle and I stopped short at seeing Spencer standing there.

"What are you doing in here?" I questioned when he realised he wouldn't say anything.

"Hoping we could talk"

I scoffed in reply and when anger crossed his face I knew it was a bad move but at this point in time I didn't care. "You've had all week to talk why now?"

"Because Sunday is your free day, I figured it would be easier without Cooper or Collins around"

"So you can think rationally about that but when it comes to your dreams you can't? Do you know how fucking terrified I was being in there, we both know you can't see what I do when that happens"

"You turned around and told me you didn't love, how was I supposed to react to that?"

"No I never said that, I just said you couldn't expect me to say it back. I really care about you Spence but I've got no idea if it's love"

Spencer shook his head before turning and heading back towards the doors but I ran towards him and grabbed his arm

"No, you don't get to leave. This is bullshit! You broke up with me because I couldn't say I love you back, are you fucking insane"

Spencer ripped his arm from my grip and he looked absolutely furious, "you broke my heart Dri, when you said you couldn't say it back that's what hurt the most. We've been together for almost two years, I thought…"

"You thought what? We would last, you'd request me as your Guardian after graduation and we would live happily ever after?"

"Partly yes"

"Come on Spence do you honestly think that after the year we've had we would have lasted?"

"There is my answer right there, you couldn't even see us lasting" Spence shook his head at me before turning and leaving and this time, I let him.

Spencer was right, I couldn't see us lasting after the year we've had but I just hoped we could make it through or at one point it would be mutual. I honestly didn't think I would hurt Spencer like this.

I wiped away the few stray tears I had before heading back to the punching bag but instead Nikolaus was standing there, I hated how the Guardians had access to the backroom. It was smaller and had some equipment that they could access if the gym was full.

"Spar?" was all he said and I nodded before walking over and joining him on the mats.

 **A/N: Thank you to who everyone who has read, followed and reviewed my story**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Nikolaus POV

I knew it was wrong but I felt so bad when I was told that Dri had four broken ribs I felt incredibly guilty for causing her that amount of pain, even the story she told me on the way to hospital made me feel bad for her, I had no idea she went through that when she was 8.

When I got Dri into the hospital she laid down on the bed while I went to get the doctor and when I came back she passed out, I was worried, way past the normal level for a mentor.

When Lord Ivashkov entered the hospital he began blaming me for what happened but the only reason he calmed down was when he realised that injuries were common during field experience and he left after that and returned shortly when another student, I knew he was a Lazar but other than that I didn't know anything.

It wasn't until they healed Dri that I realised that he was a Spirit user, I know I've had Lord Ivashkov heal me before and I didn't feel anything but watching the two of them heal Dri was different. I almost expected to see something but I didn't, there was nothing, Dri didn't even move on the bed.

Seeing the two of them heal her brought me back to the conversation Dri had with me at the beginning of the term about her being special due to Lord Ivashkov's Spirit ability, I always thought there was something different about her but I just assumed it was because she was different to the rest of the girls her age.

Don't get me wrong I find Dri incredibly beautiful and there had been a few times I had slipped and made the mistake of checking her out, she had caught me but she never said anything about it.

Dri and I have always gotten along better than most mentor/novice partnerships and I claim that to be because of the times we spoke in clearing when she snuck out, I knew I should be punishing her for it but I didn't see the point, she never did anything besides sit there.

But it was when we were in Melbourne that things changed, we were more open with each other than we had previously maybe it was due to the alcohol we were drinking or the fact that I was opening up to her, I don't know.

And then just before Christmas break when the rumours started about her letting her boyfriend feed off her, there was this pit of anger I couldn't explain. Yes I hated the idea that this was being spread about a girl who obviously didn't let her boyfriend do that but there was something else that I couldn't explain.

I knew I was making a mistake by entering the gym on Sunday, normally Sundays were the best day to enter the gym since the novices tended to avoid it but during field experience they spent some time in there to get in training that they missed out on.

So instead of staying on the main floor I headed into the backroom and found both Todd and Tanner in there as well. Todd and Tanner were my first friends here but it wasn't until we were assigned novices last year that we became closer. The constant trouble that Dri and her friends were getting in made the three of us come up with different ways to punish them.

I greeted them both and it seemed like they were finishing up, we spent a couple of minutes talking about the field experience and who we thought was doing better than the others before they had to leave and begin their shifts.

I did my workout and left the room but when I entered the main room, I stopped noticing Dri standing there having an argument with her boyfriend. I knew this was something I shouldn't have heard and I had no idea if either of them had spotted me or even heard me leave the backroom.

Hasting had finally left and Dri turned around and it was then she spotted me, I looked at her and I knew she had been crying but I had a feeling this was the one thing she wouldn't talk to me about at all, so I suggested the only thing I could think of.

"Spar?" she nodded and headed over to the mats.

The whole time we were sparring we were both silent and her hits held more aggression then they had in past, I didn't say anything knowing I could take the hits and as usual when we sparred we monitored our hits to make sure there was no serious amount of pain caused to each other.

I attempted to make a grab at her to try and pin her but she had dodged me and pushed me away, "you've got a new tattoo" her voice was quiet and it shocked me at first since I didn't expect.

I turned around and faced her and I noticed she had dropped her stance and was looking at me with curiosity. "Yes I do, it happened over Christmas break"

"What happened?"

"Just the usual, an attack. The Strigoi were killed and we were lucky we didn't lose anyone" I didn't want to think about the attack since I had almost lost my mum and it make me wonder what would have happened had I not gone out there and visited her this Christmas.

I always hated killing Strigoi, they were once good and pure and I hated knowing I killed someone that was that but the only thing got me through it was the fact that if I didn't kill them they would kill myself before moving onto the next person, I protected both myself and the future of someone else.

"You don't want to talk about it?"

"Do you want to talk about what happened with Spencer?"

"Touché" was all she said before taking up her stance and we continued to spar again.

Dri surprised me, I didn't know if it was the human in her that made her height slightly different to the rest of the novices but her height was a huge disadvantage to her. She would have had to be one of the shorter novices amongst the senior class but yet she had been shown how to work with that, even when they were working with stakes she had sought out a different way to learn.

I was surprised by how much extra training she put in, even after the breaks she would come back and have learnt some new move or technique from someone at Court. I knew her family was close with Guardians Hathaway and Belikov and I knew they had a particular soft spot for her which in turn made me realise that she was training with them at Court when she had the chance.

Dri had ended up pinning me to the mats and she had this proud smile on her face for achieving it and there was a sparkle in her eyes for being able to do it. I don't know how it happened but in the process of her pinning me she ended up straddling my lap and her hands were gripping my shoulders.

"You did well, but now you need to get off me"

"Oh right sorry" she blushed a little but either she didn't realise or she didn't know but either way it was something different I had seen with her.

As she got off me her fingers lightly trailed down my arms and I shivered under the touch, either she didn't realise or she didn't want to acknowledge it.

"Thanks for the spar, I'll see you around Nik" Dri gave me a smile before she picked up her bag and left the gym.

I sat there and watched her leave a little confused at what just happened there.

Adrianna POV

I didn't mean to end up straddling Nikolaus' lap like that and when he mentioned it I felt a little embarrassed by it, I got up and felt him shiver under my touch but I didn't want to say anything since this was already awkward and strangely enough reminded me of my dream with him. I quickly said bye and left heading straight for my dorm with the idea of having a hot shower.

I walked into my room after my shower to find Bri curled up in my bed, something tells she wasn't here for me.

"Bri?" I moved closer to the bed but she didn't shift or even looked up at me.

"My mum's dead" was all she said and I just starred at her.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Adrianna POV

"Wait, what?" I finally managed to speak after Bri had told me her mum was dead, I didn't know what to think.

"Guardian Jordan came and collected me from Izzy's room and told me I had to go to the office and see Petrov. When I got there I was confused as to why Tanner was in there as well but then Petrov just came out said my mum was dead" Bri finally sat up in the bed and my heart broke at the sight of her, it was obvious she had been crying for a while, I went over and curled up beside on my bed.

"I'm so sorry Bri"

"Thanks, like I know we didn't exactly have the best relationship but she was my mum and I loved her either way"

"I know and I understand, dad and I fight all the time but I would devastated if something happened to him"

"I know, I just can't believe it" I couldn't either, Bri's mum was a well-respected Guardian and worked for a royal Moroi family. In fact the family even had wards around their property so it made us wonder just how exactly they broke through the wards.

"What's going to happen now?"

"The funeral is next weekend, Alberta is letting me leave and spend the weekend with my family"

"What about field experience?"

"Extreme circumstances" Bri shrugged before resting her head against me and after that the two of us fell into a comfortable silence.

I wanted to talk to her about my break up with Spencer and then my awkward moment with Nikolaus but right now, my issues didn't matter.

At some point Bri had fallen asleep and I shifted her so she was off my shoulder and lying down on the bed and opened my computer to check my emails when I noticed I had another one from this B person.

 _If I can find them behind the wards, just imagine how I will be able to get you behind wards. I will see you soon._

 _B._

I stared at my computer before pulling out my phone and calling Rose.

 _"Dri, what's wrong?"_

"There's another one"

 _"What do you mean there's another"_

"Another email" I hissed making sure I didn't wait Bri up

 _"Forward it to me"_ I didn't say anything, just did as I was told. _"Dri who is he referring to being behind wards?"_

"Bri just told me her mum was killed, I know her and her Moroi live behind wards"

 _"Alright, I'm going to look into it from here please don't do anything stupid."_

"I'll try…"

 _"Dri everything will be fine, there are plenty of Guardians at St Vladimir's just don't go sneaking out anymore. Look I've got to go I will tell you if I find out anything"_

Rose didn't let me say goodbye before she hung up, I didn't know what to say or do. This person obviously knew enough about me to know who my friends were and their families, I didn't know if I was the reason why my best friend was hurting right but I didn't care, I felt so guilty.

I went back to my bed and curled up beside Bri while I turned the T.V on, I didn't mean to wake her up I just didn't realise how loud the T.V was before I last turned it off.

Bri sat up startled, "Sorry I didn't mean too"

"It's fine, what are we watching?"

"Whatever you like"

But before Bri could even pick something the door opened and Josh and Damon entered holding what looked like piles of junk food.

"So we heard from Izzy and Eric that Dri and Spencer broke up but by the looks of Bri she seems more upset by it then Dri…" Damon spoke a little confused as the two of them joined us on my bed and Bri looked at me.

"You didn't tell me?" Bri questioned and I could tell she was upset I didn't tell her but I didn't know how after what she told me.

"I think your news over shadowed mine"

"What am I missing here?" Josh questioned but both him and Damon looked plain confused.

"My mum was killed" and there goes the knot in my stomach again, the boys looked between the two of us before throwing a bag of lollies at Bri.

"You need this more than her" he grinned at us and I shook my head while Bri gave them a small smile.

"So what are we watching?" Josh questioned as he opened a bag and handed it to me

"Whatever Bri wants"

And that was how we spent the rest of our Sunday, the boys didn't ask about my break up with Spencer and neither did Bri, it didn't bother me but I knew Bri's hurt over losing her mum was worse than mine and I was fine with that. I could also tell that Bri was thankful that the boys didn't ask what happened to her mum, we all knew that her mum worked as a Guardian and just assumed that they were attacked and that was it.

I woke up in the middle of the night, Bri was curled up beside me in my bed while Damon and Josh were in sleeping bags on the floor. I knew if they got caught in here they would be in a lot of trouble but once curfew passed we figured it was just easier to keep them in here and they can leave in the morning and hopefully no one suspected anything.

I climbed out of my bed and slipped out of the room careful not to wake any of my friends and I headed downstairs in hopes of getting some air, ever since seeing that email I felt closed in being in my room and once Damon and Josh joined us it was worse.

I headed out to clearing by the novice dorms and wiped some snow of the bench before sitting down knowing full well it wouldn't be long until Nikolaus joined me.

"Thought you were told to not sneak out anymore" I hung my head at the sound of Nikolaus' voice, it did not surprise me that word had gotten from Court to here.

Rose most likely told dad and then dad told Alberta and Alberta passed the information on, Nikolaus was the one that spoke to me the most when I snuck out so of course he was told I shouldn't be out here.

"I just needed air, there's four people sleeping in my dorm tonight"

"Four? Don't tell me you have Moroi in there"

"Nope, just two boys and don't get them in trouble they're being good friends" I looked at him and he looked a little surprised, either because I told him the truth or that Damon and Josh were risking a lot to be there.

"About what happened today?"

"Depends are you talking about me or have you heard something else?"

"I heard about what happened to Grayson's mother"

"Then yes that's why the boys are in there, first they turned up because of what happened with Spencer which I'm assuming you heard anyway" I looked at him and he nodded but didn't say anything which I was grateful for. "They hadn't heard what happened to Bri's mum but we told them and they decided Bri needed the comfort more than I did"

"It wouldn't surprise me but don't worry I won't get the boys in trouble, they're doing the right thing and I'm assuming they are staying in your room until morning" I nodded not saying anything and looked out in the clearing.

It was freezing being out here but at least I thought to bring a warmer coat with me, the sun was out but it was snowing and I loved the look the grounds had when it was snowing especially when the sun was out, it seemed so peaceful and quiet and I loved it.

"I like it when it's snowing like this" I spoke softly and it caused Nikolaus to laugh, I turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Come on we're talking about your break up and the death of Grayson's mother and then you turn around and say something like that, it was a little odd"

"Are you telling me you don't like the snow?"

"I grew up in Greece, it does not snow. I hate the cold, I'm surprised you do since you love the sun so much"

"No you're wrong, I hate the cold as well but I love it when it snows. I would much rather sit in a window wrapped in a blanket with a hot chocolate and watch the snow fall that way"

"Ah yes that does sound more interesting than sitting in the snow like this, speaking of which you have snow in your hair again" I smiled as he reached over and brushed the snow out of my hair.

I grinned when I noticed the snow in his hair, "you do as well" I reached up and ruffled his hair completely changing the moment between us.

"You didn't just go that" Nikolaus growled and I laughed at him.

"Aw is your hair precious Nicky" I smirked at him before standing and taking off running and it wasn't long until he came running after me.

I turned my head and saw him getting closer to me, I let out a laugh before focusing ahead of me and it wasn't long until I felt him grip my waist and I let out a squeal as he tackled me down into the wet snow.

"Aw is something wrong Dri?" Nikolaus teased and I pouted at him

"I didn't make your hair wet though, you've just literally soaked my hair with snow" I continued to pouted but all he did was reach out and grab a lock of my hair.

"Your own fault it's so long" he twisted lock in between his fingers, I didn't know what to think of this moment.

If he was a student I wouldn't hesitate to lean up and kiss him, I couldn't deny just how attracted to Nikolaus I was but he was a teacher and this, this moment was different and we were having more of them as the year went by. Even his face showing emotion that I wasn't used to seeing and I couldn't tell what it was, I was used to seeing him annoyed or frustrated or even the rare times where we were teasing each other.

Nikolaus climbed off me and held a hand out for me, "come on I think it's time to get you back inside"

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up but I lost my footing and started to slip on the show, Nikolaus instantly reached out and wrapped an arm around my waist to help steady me and we ended up standing incredibly close to each other and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me but instead he murmured something that sounded really much like 'we can't do this' before letting me go and leading me back inside.

I silently followed him back to the novice dorm even more confused, I had been confused all day because I wasn't as upset about the break up as I thought I would be and this moment I just had with Nikolaus was different, a good different. Was Bri right earlier in the week when she said that maybe I was moving on from Spencer and falling for someone else? Was Nikolaus that someone else?

I shook my head at myself trying to push those thoughts away knowing there was no way anything could happen with a teacher, for all I know these moments were just friendly to him and there was nothing else about them.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Adrianna POV

Field experience was almost finished, in fact this was our last free Sunday before it did. I was currently sitting in my room away from my friends, I was still trying to work out what was happening with Nikolaus, was I actually falling for him?

I wanted to talk to Bri last weekend but she had left to head home for her mother's funeral, I wanted to be there for her but I knew I wouldn't have been able to leave the grounds since it would have been too much of a risk but I still felt so guilty thinking that maybe I was the reason her mother was killed.

Rose tried to reassure me that it could all just be a coincidence and I shouldn't blame myself for the death of Bri's mother but I couldn't shake the feeling. Rose wasn't even able to find any leads as to who was sending me the emails.

I heard my door opened and I instantly regretted not locking it, I leaned my head against the window not even bothering to turn and look at who had come in.

"You alright Dri?" I heard the voice that belonged to Bri, she sounded so sympathetic towards me and I didn't want it, I just wanted to be there for her after the loss of her mother

"Fine"

"I'm detecting lies, seriously. You and Spencer broke up the same day I found out about my mum, I get it, I haven't been there for you but you're still my best friend and I love you, now what is wrong?"

I finally turned and found her perched on my bed, she gave me a small smile, "I think you were right"

"I'm always right but with what in particular?" I shook my head at her trying to hide my smile from her.

"That sex dream I had about Anastas, I'm might have moved on from Spencer because I'm not upset over the break-up as I thought I would be. I'm more annoyed that I hurt Spencer like that, do you know how awkward field experience has been because Cooper and Spencer are friends"

"And you're feeling guilty but do you know who you might be moving on too? Damon told me about the awkwardness of the group" I just gave her a look and her eyes went wide, her mouth even opened and closed a couple of times without even speaking. "Anastas?" was her answer when she was finally able to speak.

I nodded, "It's so weird though for all I know I'm looking too much into but there have been all these weird moments and I've been hoping if I didn't talk about them they would go away" she patted the spot beside her on my bed and I moved to sit next to her.

I then spent a good portion of the afternoon filling Bri on everything that's happened between Nikolaus and I this year.

"So you think he said we can't do this?" Bri questioned once I finished speaking, I was glad she was able to stay quiet long enough for me to get everything out and even then she was just shocked.

"I don't know, I barely heard him, it's what I think I heard but if he did say that?"

"Then chances are he is struggling with this as much as you are but what do you really want from this?"

"I don't know, look let's say he was a student then yes chances are I wouldn't have even hesitated to kiss him like I did but he's a teacher. Even all of this aside, he's placement gets re-evaluated during the summer"

"Oh is he one of those Guardians?" I nodded. "Do you know what happened?"

"Won't tell me, I have asked though. So for all I know he gets placed with a Moroi and I never see him again"

"Don't think like that, would you want a relationship with him?" I starred at her, that question completely threw me off

"Woah, hang on Bri you're jumping ahead here. I don't even know if I feel anything towards him"

"Alright, alright I was just asking" Bri held her hands up in defence but there was a smirk on her face, I leaned back on my bed and placed my hands over my head.

"Look there's nothing wrong with having a crush on a teacher as long as nothing comes out of it, if you two keep going the way you are then you should be fine. From what you've told me he knows nothing can happen and he's making sure it doesn't, I also believe if things were different he may have kissed you that night in the snow" I lifted my hand a little so I could look at her and she had this smile on her face, it's one of those weird smiles she gets from time to time when she is convinced two people are meant to be.

I placed my hand back down and let out a groan of frustration and it just caused her to laugh at me.

"I need to get drunk, it's the last free Sunday of field experience and then we get thrown back into classes there has to be a party on tonight"

"You're in luck, it's actually why I came in here. The boys organised something, novices only"

I grinned at her, this was perfect. No Spencer, I can get drunk and push aside the guilt I had about the break up. "Perfect"

So here I was later that night sitting in one of the empty lounges of the novice dorm surrounded by my friends, someone had gotten their hands on alcohol like usual and we were all sitting around drinking.

"I think we should play truth or dare" Bri piped up and Darren laughed, I was currently sitting on Darren's lap. We were talking about field experience, Darren and I shared a few classes and got along pretty well but we had separate friendship groups.

"Come on what are we 12 Bri?" I questioned her and she frowned, "come on don't be like this Bri"

"Dri you were always game for a game of truth or dare"

"Yeah when we were 12"

"Come on Dri, are you chicken?" I narrowed my eyes at her, I don't know why calling me a chicken got me to do stupid stuff but it worked and it was how I ended up with a broken arm when I was 13.

I was dared to do something stupid on the middle school playground but it had been snowing and it slightly melted, the playground was slippery and I of course slipped and landed awkward on my arm breaking the bone.

"Fine! I give in and play truth or dare but as long as everyone else does"

So this then lead to the eight of us that were sitting in the unused lounge to play truth or dare, of course Damon suggested we alter the rules to making it a drinking game and it was decided if you didn't answer the question or do the dare you had to do a shot.

I couldn't believe just how willing some of us were to do stupid shit but I guess with us being a few months away from graduation we were all letting off steam, which thinking about it again made me think it was true. Once we graduated our world was completely different, someone else's life depended on us and we had to keep them safe.

"Your turn Darren" Josh spoke as Darren returned to his seat beside me, Darren had just finished his dare of nick knocking on of the Guardians door and I'm actually surprised he made it back here without being caught.

Darren grabbed the bottle and spun it, we were all silent watching it spin and who it will land on and when it landed on me I turned and faced Darren.

"Dare" I said and I could see the struggle.

"Come on I need some help, Dri will do anything and everything and we need to get her drunk" Darren complained before looking over at Damon and Josh hoping they had something.

"Unlucky mate" Damon shrugged his shoulders, he knew better then to throw me to the wolves like this.

"I've got one" Bri piped in and I narrowed my eyes at her, she winked before leaning over and whispering in Darren's ear.

"Oh that's good but a little inappropriate" Darren looked between the two of us and Bri just shrugged her shoulders before taking a sip of her drink and it made me a little worried.

"Dri I dare you to kiss Guardian Anastas" my jar dropped at that and I stared at him before starring at Bri I couldn't believe she did this.

"So what, you want her to go and knock on his door and kiss him right there in the hallway where any other Guardian could see her?" Josh questioned, at least I wasn't the only one that thought this was ridicules. I knew why I didn't want to do it but Josh, he just thought it was a stupid dare.

"She either does it or she drinks" Darren deadpanned and I still couldn't believe this.

In the end I grabbed the bottle and a shot glass to take the shot since there was no way I'm doing that dare knowing full well that these shots of tequila were going to be the death of me.

Nikolaus POV

"Think we should break up their party yet?" Tanner spoke and I looked over him, the two of us as well as Todd were sitting in the Guardians lounge.

We had received word that some of the novices were planning a party and like usual we let them have their fun for a couple of hours before we broke it up. We knew that partying was a part of growing up and when it came to the novices once they graduated they didn't have the same freedom.

"Let them go a bit longer, something tells me it's just novices" Todd replied and I nodded in agreement.

We knew the party was in the dorms and we had a feeling that they were playing truth or dare since one of them made the mistake of nick knocking on Tanner's door, Tanner wasn't too pleased with it.

We ended up giving them another an hour before we headed down to the unused lounge we believed they were and when we opened the door they were of course surprised about us being there.

"Alright time to break it up" I spoke and they all nodded before standing up and leaving to head back to their own dorms. Every single one of them knew their punishment would come in time, they were used it since most of these faces were regularly seen at the various parties throughout the year.

I looked over and found Dri passed out on the floor with her head resting on Henderson's lap, I walked over and knelt in front of them. "What happened?"

"Tequila shots, she doesn't handle them well" he replied while brushing Dri's hair out of her face

"Very well, I'll take her back to her room" I picked her up allowing Henderson to stand and leave.

Once I was standing I shift Dri's body so I was able to hold her better and started heading up to her dorm, I had never seen her like this, yes I had seen her drunk before but not this drunk she had passed out.

"What's going on" Dri mumbled, I guess she had woken up. I stopped walking and placed her on her feet.

"Your party is broken up, come on let's go back to her dorm" she nodded before leaning against me, I put an arm around her and helped her walk.

We walked in silence and the smell of her perfume was intoxicating, I noticed it as soon as I picked her up and ever since that moment out in the snow a few weeks ago where I almost made the mistake of kissing her, I knew I was slipping into something that could get me into a lot of trouble.

When we made it to Dri's dorm I helped her into her bed and she wrapped her blanket around her, I quickly looked around and spotted her drink bottle, I grabbed it and was pleased to find there was what I hoped was water in it.

I walked over and knelt beside the bed and handed her the bottle, "are you feeling alright?"

"I think so, I'm just a little dizzy"

"Alright just drink the water, it will help" she nodded at me and her hair fell in her face, I reached over and brushed it out of her eyes and I made the mistake of letting my hand linger more than it should.

At some point Dri had leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine shocking me for a moment before I started kissing her back, her lips were so soft and tasted of alcohol. I wrapped my hand in her hair and it was then I realised what was happening, I pulled away and I noticed Dri pout a little before closing her eyes.

I quickly stood up and left her room knowing what just happened shouldn't have.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Adrianna POV

I was currently in the gym running on the treadmill, I needed to take out some frustration and for once I hoped running would help instead of the punching bag and I hoped being in the smaller gym I wouldn't be disturbed in here by other novices.

I heard the doors open and I couldn't believe my luck that it was Nikolaus entering the gym, I didn't really want to deal with this right.

"We need to talk Dri" Nikolaus spoke when he was closer to me, I decreased the speed on the treadmill so I could walk and talk.

"About?"

"Do you remember what happened last week?"

"No" I didn't want to tell him the truth, I did remember and I couldn't get the images of kissing him out of my head, the way his fingers knotted in my hair. I shook my head trying to get the thoughts out.

I stopped the treadmill completely and got off to head over where my drink bottle was sitting on the floor.

"Are you sure?" Nikolaus whispered and when I turned around he was standing directly behind me.

I took a step back and my back was pressed against the wall and he took another step forward. "I don't remember" I replied back just as quietly.

"Really?" it came out quietly and when I felt his warm breath on my neck my own breath hitched, even more so when his lips were pressed against my neck.

"We shouldn't do this"

"But you want too, I can tell" he pressed his body against mine and one of his hands gripped my waist while the other went to my neck.

It was then an alarm went off and I woke up in my bed, I sat up and placed my head in my hands. This dream had happened more than once in the past week and I wanted them to stop.

Field experience was officially over and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in die, I couldn't believe I kissed Nikolaus while drunk. I took the shot because I didn't want to do that not with the amount of trouble I could get in but the more I think about the kiss the more I realise something, he had kissed me back before pulling away, and I would have assumed he would have straight away.

It was Monday morning and they were releasing the results of the field experience, well not all of them anyway. Only the top ten were released along with their kills and how many times they got killed and I wasn't the least bit interested.

All of the other senior novices were out waiting by the main gym while I was in the secondary one using the punching bag.

"Surprised you're in here and not with your friends waiting to see the scores" I threw harder punches at the sound of the Greek accent, this was the last thing I wanted right now.

I'm just glad he wasn't able to pull me aside to deal with what happened, instead I had to wait out the week and visualise how bad this could go.

"Figured they would grab one for me to see once they realised I wasn't there" I went to throw another punch at the bag but instead his hand wrapped around my wrist and stopped me, I let out a sigh before turning around and facing him.

"We need to talk Dri"

"About what?"

"Do you remember what happened last weekend?" I looked at him trying to hide my shock, this was too familiar, too much like my dream last night

I did but I didn't want to tell him that, "no, are we done?" I pulled my wrist out of his grip but he was silent watching me and I didn't like it.

"You know you and the rest of your friends are getting punished about the party last weekend this afternoon?"

"Yes I heard about that, we're all running laps on the track until we puked apparently" I walked over and picked up my drink bottle and downed half of it before I looked back over at him.

"Are you sure you don't remember what happened?"

"Oh god don't tell me I did something incredibly stupid while drunk and I'm going end up on the bad side of a rumour again" I spoke and I hoped it came across the way I wanted it to and Nikolaus would believe that I didn't remember what happened.

"Dri please stop lying…"

Great, just great he knew I was lying and there for he knew I remembered what happened. "Why can't we just pretend it didn't happen?" I spoke quietly while taking a seat on the bench.

"Because it shouldn't have happened and we need to talk about it, I'm your teacher"

"I know this alright, I know you're my teacher and I made a stupid move but I haven't told anyone if that's what you are worried about"

"That's all it was, just a stupid move while you were drunk?" I nodded not wanting to tell him the truth, I didn't want to tell that I was confused about what I felt for him. "So you know it shouldn't have happened and if anyone had seen or even hears what happened we both will be in a lot of trouble"

"I know this and it's why I haven't told anyone"

"Alright I have to head off, you should head to breakfast and see your friends"

"I will" I looked away from him and over at the machines wanting him to leave, I didn't like him being this close.

"And Dri?"

I looked over at him and he had a small smile on his face, "Yeah?"

"Congratulations on being rank first" my smile grew at the news and he turned to leave leaving me alone in the gym.

I entered the cafeteria after showering and getting dressed for the day, everyone was talking about the novice results but there was so much noise I couldn't pick out who got what but the thing that stuck out the most was Collins, her name kept being repeated over and over but nothing as to why she was on the rumour mill.

I slipped into the spare seat beside Bri and thankful that our Moroi friends haven't arrived yet, "why weren't you in the gym to see the results"

I shrugged at Damon as I reached over and stole a piece of his bacon and he swatted at my hand, "I figured you would tell me and I ran into Anastas, he congratulated me on coming first"

"Yes you did and we're top four" Josh grinned, for him that was a big achievement. Positions four, five, six and seven were regularly rotation between a few of the novices and I was proud of him for coming fourth.

"Well done Josh, I'm really happy for you but I do have one question why am I hearing Collins name all over the place?"

"Two reasons one she didn't rank in the top ten" Damon answered and I was shocked I actually assumed she would have been top ten along with us, this was a big shock.

"What's the other reason?"

Damon shared a look with Josh and something tells me this wouldn't be good, it means they had spoken about this and didn't know if I should know this or not. "Cooper didn't say anything to you last week?"

"Why would he say something about Collins?"

"Well Spencer actually overheard Collins talking with one of her friends on the phone one night, she was the one that started the rumour about you before Christmas break"

"That fucking bitch" I pushed my chair out and stood up to look around for her and I spotted her in the corner.

"Dri don't do anything stupid" Bri spoke but I ignored her and made my way over to Collins table.

"Are you that much of a jealous bitch that you have to stoop so long to start disgusting disturbing untrue rumours about me?" I pounded my hands down on the table in front of Collins.

"What the hell are you on about Ivashkov?"

"I heard it was you who started the fucking blood whore rumour"

"You've got your facts wrong Ivashkov" Collins stood up from the table and faced me.

"Really? Why am I being told that Spencer overheard you and how come you weren't listed in the top ten? We spent pretty much those six weeks together, you should have been in the top ten, why aren't you?"

"You weren't even in the gym"

"Doesn't matter, my friends told me as such. So again I ask, are you really that jealous you had to spread a rumour about me? Something tells me Spencer heard you bragging to your friends and he went to the teachers and because of it, you struck out with field experience"

"You just don't get it Ivashkov"

"Oh I get it, you're a jealous fucking bitch who thinks it's perfectly fine to ruin my life"

What happened next was so fast, she let out a scream of frustration before throwing herself at me and tackling me to the ground. Once I was pinned to the ground the punches started from both of us and it wasn't long until she pulled off me, I jumped up and went to throw myself at Collins and tackle her to ground in hopes of getting in a few good punches but instead someone put them arms around my waist to prevent me from doing it.

I instantly relaxed when I placed the smell with Nikolaus, it had become so familiar over the past few months and for some reason it relaxed me. He must have realised this and loosened his grip on me and when I looked at Collins Guardian Bishop had arms around her.

No one said anything at first and both Bishop and Nikolaus let us go and I launched for Collins again, "that's it, you two are coming to Guardian Petrov's office" Nikolaus spoke as he prevented me from tackling Collins to the ground.

Nikolaus shifted me so he had a grip on my arm and I noticed Bishop do the same thing with Collins, Nikolaus pulled me forward and out of the cafeteria. "If you stop resisting so much my grip wouldn't be so tight" Nikolaus said sternly, I looked at him and relaxed and he then proceeded to relax his grip on my arm but didn't completely let me go.

"Sit" Nikolaus ordered when we were in Petrov's office and him and Bishop made sure that Collins and I were as far away as possible.

"Miss Collins I had hoped I wouldn't see you again so soon in my office, you are on thin ice" Petrov spoke and when I looked over at Collins she actually looked terrified. "What happened this time?"

"The two of them were arguing and then Miss Collins tackled Miss Ivashkov to the ground" Nikolaus replied before either of us could and I had a feeling he knew one or both of us would lie about what happened.

"Is this true Miss Collins?"

"She started accusing me of starting rumours about her"

"No, I accused her of starting the disgusting blood whore rumour, I was told Spencer overheard her bragging to her friends"

"I see, Miss Collins you were warned about what would happen if you didn't stay out of trouble"

"That's insane, she started it!" Collins yelled.

"It doesn't matter if she started the argument, I'm very well used to arguments being made on the day the results are listed but what I don't appreciate is you tackling a fellow student to the ground and don't deny it since Guardian Anastas just said you did"

"You seriously can't do this!" I was so confused as to what was happening, Petrov was furious about something and Collins was afraid and what confused me even more was the fact that no one questioned about me knowing the truth behind the blood whore rumour or even why Petrov didn't say anything about it.

"I can and I am, I'm sorry Miss Collins but you will not be graduating with your fellow seniors this coming June and you will have to repeat the last year of your education and training" I stared at Petrov completely shocked at what just happened…


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Adrianna POV

"So because she spread that rumour about you and tackled you to the ground Petrov failed her?" Bri spoke and I could tell she was shocked, hell I was still shocked.

It had been a couple of weeks since I was in Petrov's office with Collins for our fight in the cafeteria, I got a couple of detentions but Collins, well she received a fail and has to repeat senior year. I was warned to keep the information to myself and I did but after a while word spread about Collins not graduating with the rest of us and everyone became increasingly curious, so of course I only told Bri but she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Yeah, it's so weird. I can't believe Spencer actually went to the teachers about the rumour"

"Dri the rumour affected him just as much as you"

"I guess but he hasn't said a single word to me since we broke up, even Bas won't speak to me and the only reason Cooper did was because we were paired together and he liked using me as an advantage to spar against"

"Dri you broke his heart"

"I know, I know but he was the one that ended it"

"I know this, you've told me but give him space. I'm sure he knows you're grateful for him finding out and going forward with the truth but Dri give the guy a break. Don't you remember how hard he worked to actually get you to realise he wanted you and not because you were different"

I looked away from Bri and out the window, she was right. Before Spencer and I started dating he tried incredibly hard to actually convince me to give him the time of day, at first I just assumed he was like every other Moroi that wanted to get close to me because technically I'm an Ivashkov or they wanted to know why I was different.

"Dri don't tell me you've had a change of heart" Bri spoke softly and I let out a sigh before looking back at her.

"No, I had hoped Spencer and I could work through the issues we've had this year but I wasn't in love with him like he was with me"

"And the fact that you're involve with Anastas" I narrowed my eyes at her before picking up the pillow on my lap and throwing it at her.

Ever since I told Bri about my weird moments with Nikolaus she has been making more and more comments my way, if we were alone the comments were worse and if Damon was around he generally joined in since he was convinced Nikolaus and I did have sex while we were in Melbourne.

"You are an idiot, I don't believe I once said I was in love with him"

"Whatever, are you excited for the field trip on Friday?" I finally softened my face at her, my annoyance was gone at the mention of Friday.

"Yes, I seriously want to know what the seniors do every year"

Every year after field experience was finished a group of seniors were taken on a field trip, we knew it was based on how well they did during field experience. No one spoke about what they did so we had no idea what to expect to go into it, last year we tried so hard to get it out of Jeremy Conner who was the top novice but he wouldn't budge said we had to wait until we did it ourselves. We even tried playing the whole but what if we don't go, he laughed at us saying we most likely would.

"It has to be somewhat educational otherwise they wouldn't do it" Bri spoke and I shrugged before reply.

"Yes but I assume also rewarding since it is only a certain number of the seniors" she nodded and I looked back out the window, I've been spending more time in my room.

I figured if I spend more time in here I can be away from Collins, since she has already failed she doesn't care if she gets in anymore trouble. There has been more comments and remarks made in my direction and during combat class she actually aims for my head.

It took all of my restraint to make sure I didn't retaliate to Collins because I wanted to graduate, I didn't want to have the embarrassment of having to repeat senior year.

A knock on my bedroom pulled me from my thoughts, "come in" I replied and turned around to see who was at my door.

Seeing it was Nikolaus my stomach fluttered and I just wished I hadn't fallen for him, I looked over at Bri and she had this massive grin on her face and I just wished I still had my pillow to throw at her.

"Your needed in Guardian Petrov's office" Nikolaus spoke and my face fell, I stared at Bri trying to work out what I've done recently that I could in trouble for. "Don't worry you're not in trouble" Nikolaus must have realised my reaction.

"Alright, Bri I'll come find you later" I gave her a smile and she winked at me behind his back and I just groaned before placing my head in my hands.

"Am I missing something?" Nikolaus questioned

"Yes"

"No" Bri and I said at the same and I glared at her but she just smiled. I shook my head before leaving my room and following Nikolaus towards Petrov's office.

"What's going on Nik?" I looked at him trying to hide my worry.

I remember Bri telling me she was asked to go to Petrov's office to be told her mum had been killed and I just hoped my family was alright.

Nikolaus looked up at me and must have realised my worry, "everyone is fine, its not that"

"Then what's going on?"

"It will be explained when we get there"

"Nik…" he stopped walking and turned to look at me

"Dri, I promise everyone is fine and you aren't in trouble" he placed a hand on my shoulder to reassure me but all I could notice was the heat that was coming off his hand, I nodded at him and his hand dropped from my shoulder and we continued the walk in silence.

I spent the whole way trying to work out what the hell was going on but I couldn't come up with anything but something that he had already said wasn't going to happen. I kept trying to think what I've done wrong or if something happened to my family, mum was known for leaving Court regularly and seeing her friends and family and then there was Rose and Dimitri who were Guardians but last I heard they planning on going to Russia but it wasn't confirmed, or what if Court was attacked, no everyone would have heard about that. I shook my head trying to push aside the thoughts I didn't want as we entered Petrov's office.

I stopped walking at the sight of both Rose and dad in there, I turned and looked at Nikolaus. "You said everyone was fine! Them being here doesn't make me think so"

"Dri everyone is fine just calm down, take a seat and listen to us before you start yelling at us all" dad spoke but I ignored him and continued to look at Nikolaus

"This is insane, everyone knows when you get asked to the office when you aren't in trouble it means someone is dead"

"Where is Dimitri when you need him?" Rose spoke in a hushed tone, I noticed Nikolaus raise an eyebrow in confusion at me before I turned and faced Rose. "Dri please sit down, we really do need to talk"

I pulled a face at her before walking over and taking a seat, "Miss Ivashkov there is a reason we asked you here and it's to do with the senior field trip on Friday" Petrov spoke and it was then I realised what this was about.

I looked at her for a moment before turning and facing dad, "Dri please don't yell, just listen"

"Miss Ivashkov we all believe that in the best interest of your safety that you should be pulled from the field trip, we can't guarantee you will be safe while out of the wards"

"Seriously? There would be what I'm assuming is the top ten novices and however many Guardians going?"

"Yes, each novice and their own mentor is going"

"Then there will 19 people able to look out for me, how is my safety a concern?"

"Miss Ivashkov we can't guarantee that you will be safe, each year it is done differently between the novices. It's basically a day full of games where the novices go against the Guardians, we can't rely on novices to help protect you should something happen"

I turned and looked at dad knowing he was the reason behind all of this, "dad please" I tried pleading with him

"Dri I'm sorry but we have no idea who keeps sending you those emails and until we do you won't be going on that field trip" I shook my head at him before standing up and leaving, if Petrov wasn't present then I would have said what I wanted too but what that was would have caused me multiple detentions and definitely no chance of going.

When I entered the gym I instantly regretted not getting changed after classes were finished, I was still in my uniform something which didn't exactly give me the freedom for the movements required to punch the punching bag so instead I laid down on the floor.

I thought I would have wanted to take my frustrations out on the bag but instead as soon as I laid down tears came to my eyes.

"Dri we need to talk about this" Rose spoke and I wanted her to go away, I had heard the door open and just hoped it was another novice and they would completely ignore the fact that I was crying in the middle of the floor.

"Why? Because I'm getting taken off something that is practically a reward for doing well doing field experience, that's complete and utter bullshit"

"Dri it's not, we don't know who this person is and we don't know if they have the front gates watched. If you leave from here, we don't know what is going to happen once you are out of here, what if you get pulled away from the rest of the novices and get taken that way" I sat up and looked at her as she sat down in front of me

"There's no possible way for this to work?"

"No, we've tried everything. There is no way to make sure you don't get separated, I know you Dri and you are competitive you will want to go off and prove you can do it by yourself"

"It's not fair, I've worked so hard"

"I know Dri and I get it I really do but your safety needs to come first" I let out a groan of frustration as I leaned back on the floor.

I knew she was right, I knew ever since Christmas everyone has been worried about my safety, hell Lissa had sent more Guardians out here to make sure the academy was safe. I just hated that whoever this person was ruining my experiences of being a senior, I wanted to go off and have fun with my friends for the trip but instead I had to stay behind and be alone.

"I have to go Dri" Rose finally spoke breaking the silence but I didn't say anything, I just continued to stare at the roof. "Fine don't talk to me just because I'm the bad guy keeping you safe, also stop wearing your skirts so short" I finally looked over at her with a grin on my face and she shook her head.

We both knew she didn't really care about the length of my skirts, that was mum and Lissa that did. It was something that Spencer both loved and hated….

I reached up and pressed my hands into my ears to try and get rid of the thoughts I was having about Spencer, he broke up with me and I needed to stop feeling so guilty for hurting him, I had to remember we weren't together anymore I didn't have to keep referencing everything back to him but it was hard after almost two years.

"Bye Rose" I spoke softly but I didn't look over at her, I didn't want to let her know just how upset I was.

"Bye Dri, I love you" I nodded but didn't reply, I didn't know why I couldn't.

I heard the door open and I assumed Rose left leaving me alone in here which I was grateful, I was able to be lost in my thoughts and not be bugged by anyone.

I jumped in shock as I felt someone lay down beside me and the heat that was coming from their body.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Adrianna POV

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" the voice spoke and I turned my head to look at Spencer, why he was in here I don't know.

"What are you doing in here?" I sat up and moved back a little so I wasn't so close to him anymore.

He frowned but sat up as well, "you practically stormed past me, I was going to follow you and make sure you were alright but I hesitated outside and that was when Rose turned up"

"You broke up me, why do you care?" I snapped at him

"Yeah and you seem real devastated over that but I care about you and as much as this hurts to admit I still love you"

"You were right, I wasn't in love with you but I still cared about you. Maybe not as much as I used, I think the fighting pushed me away from you and I hate that I hurt you like I did"

"Its fine Dri I understand, it happens" he gave me a smile and I couldn't help but give one back.

"Thanks, I really have felt guilty for hurting you like I did"

"It's fine, honestly but what happened?"

"I'm not allowed to go on the senior novice field trip"

"Ouch and you came first"

"Yeap" I nodded at him

"Why?"

"That is a long drawn out story that I haven't told you…"

"Meaning you were keeping things from me while we were together"

"Just this thing, look I've already had this out with everyone at Court I don't need it from you. I'm just going to put it as someone is threatening my safety and they don't want me to leave the safety of the wards"

"Dri…"

"Mr Hasting if you would give us a moment alone I need to speak to Miss Ivashkov privately" I was grateful for Nikolaus interrupting us, I looked down at my hands and I wouldn't have been surprised if Spencer looked between the two of us.

"You're kidding me right?" my head shot up and I stared at Spencer, what the hell was he going on about.

"What are you talking about Spencer?"

"You can't lie to me Dri and you've lost it" Spencer shook his head at me before standing up and leaving me alone with Nikolaus.

"What was that about Dri?"

"I've got no idea, unless he saw something" I muttered to myself hoping he didn't hear me, I didn't want to even think about beginning to explain what Spencer might have seen in my aura

"What do you mean?" Nikolaus as he came over and sat down in front of me.

"Doesn't matter, why are you here?"

"I was expecting to come and find you in front of the punching bag but instead you were sitting on the floor"

"Talking with my ex-boyfriend? Yes it wasn't because I wanted too, he came in here. Am I really not going on Friday?"

"Yes and you're not the only one missing out"

"Bri and Damon are staying back with me" I grinned at him knowing I wasn't right

"No, since you aren't going I'm not either"

"Aw poor Nicky" I kept grinning at him even when anger flashed through his eyes.

"What did I say about calling me Nicky?" he growled but my grin still didn't drop

"You're right Nicky, I'm sorry" I quickly jumped up and ran for the door but stopped when I noticed other novices heading in, I turned and shot Nikolaus a grin knowing whatever he was planning he wouldn't do now.

"I can make you run laps" he yelled out but I shook my head before leaving the gym and heading to the novice dorm looking for my friends.

I found them sitting in the corner of the main lounge in the dorm grateful for it almost full capacity meaning knowing no one else will be able to overhear what I'm about to tell them, everyone else can wait till Friday to find out that the top novice won't be attending the field trip and then the rumours will really start.

"What happened with Petrov?" Bri spoke as soon as I sat down and I could tell both Damon and Josh were shocked with this news.

"I'm not going on Friday"

"What do you mean you aren't going on Friday, you're the top novice what the hell did you do?" Damon questioned and I leaned back on the couch and put my hands over my face.

"I didn't do anything, there's someone out there threatening me. Everyone's worried about my safety, so I'm not allowed to go since they can't guarantee that I will be safe"

I lifted my hands and peaked at my friends, I knew they would be shocked with the news and I hated that I was keeping it from them but I after I told my family I didn't know how to approach the subject with them. Looking at them now, they looked furious, Damon more so then the rest.

"Guys…" I spoke softly hoping they wouldn't yell at me.

"Are you kidding me Dri! Why the hell didn't you tell us this, this is fucking insane! Why wouldn't you tell us that someone was threatening you!" Damon yelled at me and I flinched by how angry he was.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how" I spoke quietly and Damon rubbed his face with his hands and when he finally looked at me again all the anger was gone.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, I'm sorry but you really should have told us." Damon apologised and I gave him a smile

"Damon's right, what if they broke into the grounds and you were taken? You know majority of the time when any of us kidnapped we end up dead or worse" Bri piped in and she looked more upset then angry now

"I know alright, but I know nothing about this person. For all I knew it was Collins messing with me because she was annoyed with me"

"We really shouldn't be having this conversation in public like this" Josh spoke and we all looked around noticing just how many people were watching us.

"He's right, let's talk about something else" Bri spoke and we were all quiet, none of us could come up with a topic since what we wanted to talk about we couldn't

"Oh I've got it, Spencer found me in the gym and we actually spoke"

"What happened?" Bri questioned like she was happy about this while Damon and Josh…

"Do I need to beat him up?" Damon was the one to speak while Josh agreed, I laughed at them.

"I'm not too sure, it started of all fine. I said my peace about how I hated hurting him like I did and we were able to talk but it wasn't until Anastas came in asking to speak to me privately that Spencer lost it, he must have seen something but didn't say what it was, said I had lost it before getting up and leaving"

"Well he can see auras, maybe he saw something about you being in love with Anastas" Damon deadpanned and Bri just laughed while I sat there completely shocked not even realising the truth behind it.

"You're insane Damon, what makes you think I'm in love with Anastas?"

"You can deny it all you want but I know the two of you had sex in Melbourne"

"What gives you that idea?"

"I don't know, maybe that fact that every time Anastas gets mentioned this goofy smile appears on your face"

"He's right Dri" I snapped my head around at Josh, I couldn't believe this. When I looked over at Bri she nodded.

"It doesn't mean we had sex in Melbourne though" I spoke quietly while sinking back into the chair.

How had my friends seen this and not said anything? I didn't know if I was embarrassed or confused or just plain shocked at this. I trusted my friends with everything but having feelings towards a teacher was different, it wasn't allowed if anything did happen between the two of us we could get into a lot of trouble hence why I haven't told them about the kiss.

"Alright you two, Dri and I are leaving I honestly don't think this is a conversation for you two anymore" Bri spoke as she stood up and made her way over to grab my arm and pull me away from the boys.

"Bri we didn't have sex in Melbourne" I spoke as soon as we were in my room and the door was shut.

"I know Dri the boys are just messing with you"

"What about what he said about that goofy smile"

"It's there but at first we never thought anything of it"

"But he's my teacher" I spoke softly as I curled up in my bed.

Having my friends say it was obvious to them made me realise that maybe I did have feelings towards Nikolaus but I couldn't, nothing could ever happen and right now knowing I felt that and nothing would come out of it, it hurt.

Bri came over and knelt beside my bed, "I know he is but put all of that aside, he would actually be good for you. Dri you can be like a tornado, you blow past anything and everything and that's why your relationship with Spencer didn't work because he was exactly the same but Anastas is different, he will calm you down and make you think before jumping into anything"

"It won't work, our kind don't get the privilege of having long standing relationships"

"I know Dri but look at Rose and Dimitri"

"I know but it's different for them, they got paired with a couple. They were able to have some sort of life with Lissa and Christian"

"And maybe one day if things do work in your favour you can have that with Anastas" I didn't say anything in reply and it just made her cock her head to the side and look at me. "Look I have to go, I have a meeting with Tanner, I will come find you later" I nodded at Bri and see finally got up and left me alone with my thoughts.

I spent the next couple of days quiet amongst my friends, Bri, Josh and Damon knew why I was and my Moroi friends just assumed I was upset about not being allowed to go on the field trip with the rest of my friends and I was just glad they didn't ask questions.

I tried long and hard to try and not think about Nikolaus, I didn't want to think about the possibility of having fallen for him and I didn't want to think about the fact that nothing could ever happen between us.

I had more sleepless nights due to this and I didn't want to sneak out because I knew I would have to deal with Nikolaus, in the end I spent more time under the hot water in the showers hoping a hot shower would make me sleepy and sometimes it worked but never for long.

The novices and their mentors had just left for the field trip and I was taking advantage of the empty gym and was using the weights that were available.

I was barely in the gym for five minutes before the doors opened and the last person I wanted to see right now entered, I just hoped he walked straight past me and into the backroom that was meant for the Guardians but instead he walked straight towards me.

"We're needed in Headmistress Antakov's office"

"Why?"

"I don't know"

"Well it can't be because I'm allowed to go on the field trip since they all just left"

"I know this Dri, come on we really should go" I finished the set and sat up to look at him.

"You've got no idea why I'm being requested to the headmistresses' office? I've stayed out of trouble and even then normally Guardian Petrov deals with my punishments"

"Dri you're not understanding, we have _both_ been requested in Headmistress Antakov's office" I stared at him for a moment, then I realised. We were both in trouble.

I nodded at him and stood up pulling on my sweats and jumper before picking up my bag and following him in silence towards the office.

When we entered I was shocked at who was present, dad, Lissa, Petrov, that new kid and Spencer. I knew right then and there that I was going to fucking kill Spencer.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Adrianna POV

Seeing dad and Lissa in Headmistress Antakov's office was a shock, yes I had seen dad in Petrov's office numerous times, this was different I had rarely been in the Headmistresses' office because I rarely caused that much trouble.

I looked over at dad hoping more than anything that his face or even Lissa's would be able to give something away as to what exactly was going on but they weren't giving anything away.

I looked up at Nikolaus who was still standing next to me as to if he had any idea of what was going on but his mask was up, but the thing that confused me the most was that the new kid was in here. I didn't know what he had to do with all of this.

"Miss Ivashkov I've received some very interesting and unsettling information" Antakov spoke and I shot Spencer a look, if what Damon said was true about Spencer seeing something in my aura then I did not like where this was going.

"Oh and what would that be?" I replied hoping that if I acted dumb it would be easier.

"What is your relationship like with Guardian Anastas?" and there it is, them secretively asking if Nikolaus and I were in a relationship.

I took a deep breathe, I couldn't get in trouble for this. Nothing was going on, they couldn't pin anything on me.

"He's my mentor, he was assigned to me last year when all the juniors were assigned mentors. Yes I understand that our relationship is a bit more friendlier then the rest of the seniors and their mentor but it's a given considering that we spent that weekend in Melbourne and the countless times I've snuck out of my room and he's been the one to bring me back inside. Even the countless punishments I've had with him, I also have more sessions with him compared to my classmates because I ask for them"

"Guardian Anastas do you agree?"

"I do, what Miss Ivashkov has stated is correct, I understand it may have been wrong for me to allow the lines to blur a little between a typical relationship between a novice and their mentor compared to being friends but what we are being accused of is not happening" I gave an internal sigh of relief grateful that both of us silently agree that keeping that kiss quiet is the best thing.

"So there is nothing romantic at all going on between the two of you?" Antakov directed the question back at me

"No, I've grown up seeing the repercussions of a teacher and student falling in love. Tell me why I would put myself in that same situation?" I questioned and they were right, I even snuck a look at dad and Lissa but still nothing gave them away.

"Mr Hasting, what are your reasons behind your allegations?"

I couldn't believe Spencer did this, this was insane. What the hell was Spencer's problem?

"Their auras, I understand you can't see them Headmistress Antakov but I'm also assuming that is why Mr Lazar, Lord Ivashkov and Queen Dragomir are also in here because they are Spirit users and will be able to see their auras as well"

Spencer just said both of us, does that mean Nikolaus felt the same. As much as I wanted to look at him and hope to see some agreement and find out what he meant but right now, I couldn't since it would just make things worse for us.

"Adrian?" Antakov looked at dad and it was then I realised why dad and Lissa were quiet, they were focusing on our auras and Petrov was here because I was a novice and Nikolaus was under her, she was the one that gave him orders.

"Dri this is your last chance, just tell us the truth. Is there anything going on between the two of you?"

"No, why does everyone think that? I meant what I said how we are just friends, I get that we shouldn't have gotten as close as we have but come on dad you sent the two of us to Melbourne what did you think was going to happen? The two of us sitting in separate rooms not talking?"

"Very well then, James?" dad looked at the new kid and I had no idea what he was doing in here, I figured two Spirit users would have been enough for Petrov and Antakov but then again I had no idea what his abilities were.

"She is telling the truth, nothing is going on between the two of them. The feelings might be there but neither one of them has acted on it and I personally believe that having this conversation with them both present has just alerted them both to what the other one is feeling since neither of them knew about the other one and you may have just made the situation worse" the kid spoke and I stared at him, how the hell did he know I was telling the truth. He didn't even know me but yet dad had questioned me, not believing me.

"So because Lazar says nothing is going on you are going to believe him?" Spencer question and I'm surprised at how angry he was, I couldn't believe he would do this to me.

"Mr Hasting there is nothing we can do if there is no proof, we understand that you may have seen something in both of their auras but Mr Lazar has given us no reason to doubt his abilities now, if he says nothing is going on than we have to believe them when they say nothing is going on"

"Excellent now that this is all sorted Mr Hasting why don't you head back to your dorm, I need to have a word with Miss Ivashkov and Guardian Anastas in my office" Petrov spoke and now I was worried about what was going to happen, the worst that could happen was being sent elsewhere for the last couple of months or even Nikolaus getting sent to Court early but nothing has happened or was Petrov planning on removing Nikolaus as my mentor.

"I think we will join you, James if you wait outside I would like to speak with you afterwards" dad piped in and the new kid nodded.

I silently stood up and followed them all down the corridor towards Petrov's office but before we could step inside dad grabbed my arm and pulled me aside, I shot him a glare not happy with him since he didn't believe a word I said.

"You better not be lying Dri, this could get you into some serious trouble before you even graduate" dad growled at me once they had all headed inside.

"Are you kidding me? Why would you believe me anyway, you literally asked the new kid if I was lying or not, what the hell are his abilities anyway? Is he like a walking talking lie detector or something?"

"Dri you've gotten very good at lying to me and I've caught you in a few of them but as for James' abilities, it's the typical healing, aura seeing, dream walking but his other two are different, something we've never come across before. He can read emotions and flick through your memories, I gave them permission so he can do it and see if you were hiding anything from us"

I didn't say anything in response, I couldn't believe this. If the new kid could see memories why the hell did he lie in there, surely he had to see the kiss between the two of us. I narrowed my eyes at dad and ripped my arm from his grasp before heading inside and taking a seat.

"Now this is a very unusual situation, normally we don't receive word until something has already happened and then we have to split them up. Now let's get this as cleared up as soon as possible because the conversation that took place I only understood half of it because I don't know how Spirit works. Do you two have any sort of romantic feelings towards each other, I don't care how small or how large" Petrov questioned.

"Yes" I replied.

Nikolaus took a bit longer but eventually a yes came from him as well, I turned and looked at him completely shocked about this. This whole time I was telling myself that he didn't feel the same and it made the pain of not being able to have anything with him lessened.

"I don't see the point in cancelling this mentorship since it is this late in the year…"

"You're kidding right, they've just admitted to having feelings toward each other" dad cut Petrov off and I could tell she wasn't happy about it.

"Lord Ivashkov if you had let me finished, I don't see the point in cancelling it because of the lateness in the year but also due to the fact that they get along and Miss Ivashkov does seem to be listening to Guardian Anastas for whatever reason but I will say that their sessions will be supervised, by either yourself or I can place another Guardian in the gym. Lord Ivashkov I suggest you supervising their sessions because the less who know the truth the easier it is to keep this quiet"

"What about all the times Dri sneaks out?" great, I hated that all of the staff knew about that but at least I was grateful for the lack of punishment.

"Those will come to a stop Miss Ivashkov otherwise you will start getting punished for it, the dorm matrons do send me reports but I've heard from Guardian Anastas you just sit in the clearing by the dorm, he has never caught you doing anything of concern"

"I'll try" I replied, I knew there was no point in saying yes completely and then sneaking out since the punishment will be worse.

"Miss Ivashkov have you told anyone about what you feel towards Guardian Anastas?"

"I've told Bri but Damon and Josh have made jokes so I'm unsure as to what they actually know" I'm sure by now they have figured it out but I don't think I've one said straight out to the both of them that I do have feelings towards Nikolaus

"Find out and make sure they don't tell anyone, we don't need this to get out. Guardian Anastas I'm assuming you haven't told anyone?"

"No Guardian Petrov"

"Very well, you may leave and if I hear any word about anything happening between the two you, you both will be straight back in my office" I nodded and stood up to leave Petrov's office, Nikolaus was out first and I so badly wanted to talk to him about what all just came out but I couldn't, not with dad and Lissa not far behind.

"Dri stop" dad called out when we were all in the hallway, I turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"We need to talk about this"

"About what? How embarrassed I was having a complete stranger turn around and admit to Anastas that I had feelings for him or when I had to tell Guardian Petrov the same thing. I wasn't planning on admitting it all to him, I wasn't planning on doing anything about it hell I just assumed it was a stupid school girl crush and he didn't feel the same" I yelled at him and noticing him tense, recognising the familiar signs when we were getting ready for a screaming match between the two of us

"Adrian why don't you go and talk with Mr Lazar and I will talk to Dri?" Lissa spoke realising the tension between the two of us, dad nodded before leaving and heading down towards where the new kid was sitting.

"Come on let's go talk somewhere else away from all of this"

"How bad is dad going to be about this?" I spoke as soon as we were in one of the empty rooms the building had.

"I'm not too sure, he isn't happy that much I know"

"What about Rose and Dimitri, I'm sure you told them"

"I did but you have to understand it's different for them because they were in the same situation"

"Yes but once everything came out they had no choice but to admit that something happened while he was her teacher, nothing has happened between Nikolaus and I"

"I know and I trust you but Dri they aren't mad, they're just worried. They don't want you to go through the same thing they did"

"I know, I didn't mean to fall for him, it's just since that trip to Melbourne we've gotten closer. It hurts knowing nothing will happen" I spoke softly and hung my head while Lissa walked over and took a seat beside me.

"I'm sure it does, just give your dad some time and I suggest talking to Guardian Anastas about this, he will be in exactly the same position as you"

"Haven't rules just been put in place so we aren't alone?"

"Then don't get caught, talking will help I promise. Now I have to go and get back on the plane, I will try and see if I can send Rose out here at some point because I'm assuming you want to talk to her about all of this" I nodded. "Very well, stay out of trouble Dri you only have a couple of months left"

"I'll try"

"It's all I can ask" I gave Lissa a hug before leaving and heading back to my dorm trying to work out how in the hell I was going to talk to Nikolaus about all of this.

But when I made it to my dorm Nikolaus was standing there waiting for me and I could not read what was written on his face.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Adrianna POV

Nikolaus looked my way when I approached him, I had no idea what was going to happen here. I know Lissa said I should talk to him but did I want to after being embarrassed like I was?

"We need to talk" he finally spoke, I shook my head at him before facing my door. I decided I didn't want to talk to him right now, it could wait.

"Thought rules were just put in place so we wouldn't be alone?"

"Petrov said those rules start tomorrow, she assumed we needed to talk other than being blindsided like we were" Nikolaus pleaded with me and I turned around not realising he was so close to me, "Dri please"

I nodded once realising that if I didn't talk to him now chances are I wouldn't get the chance again until after graduation, especially with dad watching my sessions with him. We ended up sitting in the unused lounge on the same floor as my dorm, I walked over and took a seat on the couch waiting for him to speak.

The longer he was silent the worse I felt, I watched as he came over and joined me on the couch. I twisted to face him and tuck my feet underneath me.

"How did Mr Lazar know if you were lying or not" Nikolaus finally spoke and I looked at him, slightly confused as to why he would question that first.

"Really that is what you are going to ask first?" I smirked at him and he gave me a small smile.

"Humour me Dri" at least he was as unsure about this like I was.

"Dad said it's a part of his abilities, he can read emotions and flick through our memories" and that was when his face dropped, worried like I was.

"But he said nothing has happened, surely he saw the kiss"

"I don't know, I'm worried as well but he has no reason to protect us, he could have told them all about it"

"Maybe he didn't see it?"

"Maybe, I'm debating about if I want to confront him about it or just let it go"

"Let it go Dri, the last thing we need is for him to see it when he originally didn't and go to your dad, you heard Petrov for now we are fine but if anything happens"

"I know if anything happens we're both in trouble…" I looked away from him and down at my lap where my hands were sitting and I didn't realise I had started fidgeting.

I felt Nikolaus shift on the couch and it wasn't long until he placed his hands on mine to stop them from fidgeting. "Dri" I lifted my head and looked at him surprised how close his head was to mine and the temptation to kiss him was incredibly high, especially now knowing he felt the same.

"You said you wanted to talk, this isn't us talking" I whispered and he finally pulled away realising what could happen.

"Sorry, it's just harder now…"

"Knowing I feel the same?" he nodded. "I was shocked when Lazar said that we both felt the same, I was only getting by believing you didn't feel the same"

"I know, I was the same, it was just easier that way but what exactly did Hasting and the rest of them see in our auras, I don't exactly understand it Dri"

"I know Nik, I don't either. It would have been love for him to go to the teachers, don't freak out it doesn't mean I love you or you love me it's just how the emotions play out. Apparently when it comes to romantic feelings there is only two that show, lust and love. It's hard to explain because I don't fully understand it"

"No I think I get it Dri, he thought he saw love in our auras and went to the teachers thinking that we were in a relationship"

"Partially, I think he may also be punishing me for the break-up"

"Why, I know I don't know the full story but from what I heard from that conversation he broke up with you"

"I couldn't say I loved him back…" I trailed off looking away from Nikolaus not wanting to see him process this information, I didn't know if the feelings were there at the time but that first dream had confused me.

"Ohh…did you?"

"What have feelings for you back then? I don't know Nik, field experience was going on and it was the same time you broke four of my ribs, there was just so much going on at the time"

"It's fine I get it"

We both fell into a comfortable silence and there was something telling me we still hadn't spoken about what he wanted too, yes we've spoken but it doesn't feel like the right conversation.

"Nik you said we should talk, what in particular did you want to talk about?" I watched as he let out a deep breath and reached around to scratch the back of his neck.

"I'm not too sure, I just needed to talk to you. You have to know I didn't want any of it to come out like that"

"I know, I didn't either, I was incredibly embarrassed having to sit there and listen to Lazar tell you I felt something towards you" a smile appeared on his face, "what?"

"Its different hearing you say it"

I smiled back, "oh but surely you know we can't have moments like this"

"I know Dri, we have to spend the rest of term ignoring what our bodies are trying to tell us"

"It's going to be hard during our sessions and one of us gets pinned to the floor"

"I know Dri but hopefully with your dad watching them we won't let it happen, the only reason we kissed last time was because you were drunk and didn't realise what was so wrong about it"

"That stupid kiss is going to come and bite us in the ass one day" I grumbled

"I know but until Mr Lazar see's it we are fine, I'm assuming Grayson doesn't know?"

"No I haven't told her, I didn't see the point"

"Good, so we will just keeping going as we are Dri"

"What about after I graduate?"

"Dri we can't have that conversation, you know this. It will just give us hope, we have to wait until you graduate and see what happens then, I don't even know what is happening with my placement yet for all I know I'm getting placed back with a Moroi and we won't see each other again" I nodded and looked away from him and hopes of him realising I wasn't going to cry.

I felt Nikolaus shift on the couch again and his hand was placed on my neck, he wiped the stray tear away. "I promise once you graduate if you still want to have this conversation we will, I have to go and you should head back to your room we have been in here longer then we should have been"

"Nik…" I spoke quietly, knowing if I said more than that my voice would have broke.

"I know Dri but we both agreed to having no more moments alone, this has to end before things go too far" he spoke calmly before wiping away another tear and softly pressing his lips against my head.

I pulled away from him and leaned back against the couch closing my eyes not wanting to see him leave, once I heard the door shut I laid down on the couch wishing that the rest of the seniors would return because more than anything I wanted Bri here.

I must have fallen asleep at one point because the next thing I knew was that I was in a Spirit dream and for some strange reason I hoped it was the new kid, I didn't want to deal with dad and as much as I wanted to confront Spencer a dream was the last place since his never worked out for well for me if he turned angry.

There was nothing special about where I was, it was just a standard room with a couple of arm chairs, I walked over and took a seat waiting for the Spirit user to arrive.

"It's like you expect what is going to happen" I heard the voice and turned my head grateful that the new kid was standing there.

"Yes well considering I grew up around two Spirit users and I dated one for almost two years, you would think I knew something and I have to say out of the three Spirit users I suspected of bringing me in I'm glad it's you"

"Why is that?" he questioned as he walked over and took a seat in front of me

"Well dad is the last person I want to talk to, he wouldn't even believe me when I told him nothing happened, he turned to you and then there's Spencer. How much do you know about Spencer's dream walking ability?"

"Enough to know that his mood affects it"

"Yes, so I don't want to confront him in a dream, if he gets angry my worst nightmare comes out"

"Doesn't sound like fun"

"Why are you here Lazar?"

"You were shocked in there today when I said nothing happened between you and Guardian Anastas"

"Yeah I was shocked that you knew that, I don't even know you. I've seen you around a couple of times but we've never spoken before, I didn't know what your abilities were"

"I guess, you know your mind is sorted differently to everyone else's" I stared at him unsure of what to say in return to that, I had never had a conversation with him before and now, well it seems a little weird.

It didn't matter if it was weird, I had no idea where he was going or was there something he wanted from me and he was hoping that the kiss between Nikolaus and I was going to be his bargaining chip?

"Why does that matter?"

"Adrianna, I've been through many people's minds in hopes of working out how this ability of mine works and even though everyone is different their minds are the same but you, you are something completely different"

"This still doesn't explain why you brought me here" I raised an eyebrow at him

"I just want to work out why your mind is different, it could be the Spirit in you for all I know but I'm still curious either way and as much as we don't know each other there is a possibility that I could be a father to a dhampir child that will be just like you. You are an unknown Adrianna and I would like to work out what exactly is different about you"

"You and me both Lazar" I trailed off as I leaned my head back and stared at ceiling, I wasn't even surprised when the scene changed and I was now looking up at a bright blue sky.

Lazar wasn't saying anything and it made it wonder what the hell he was doing, did he only bring me in here so he could go through my mind or did he want to get to know me in hopes of helping dad, Lissa and I work out what is so goddamn special about me because in all honestly I hated being special.

I hated being this special that I was having my life threatened by a complete stranger not allowing me to go out on the senior field that I earned fair square, my friends were out doing who knows what and I was stuck here at the academy.

I hated that I had no idea what was going to happen to my life once I graduated, would I just be kept behind the wards not allowed to leave and have some sort of life or would I actually be able to become the Guardian I've trained for years to be?

I hated having this feeling of an unknown when I knew the only unknown my friends had was who their future was going to be with.

Lazar made the dream disappear as soon as the tears I was trying to keep at bay ran down my cheek.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

James POV

Confrontations weren't my thing, I preferred to stay away from most conflicts and the other Moroi thought it was weird considering I was royal but being a Spirit user affected me. Not many people knew how bad it was, I was grateful to finally have a teacher who was a Spirit user and knew how badly it could affect us, I tried everything I could to numb my abilities.

Reading people's emotions was what came out first, to begin with I thought it was just because I could read people well and then I was able to shift threw people's memories, it was how I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me. I was at a loss as to what was wrong with me because all the other Spirit abilities they tested me with I couldn't do at the time so they just assumed I hadn't specialized and I kept my abilities to myself.

There was a party one night and I was on suspension and under heavy supervision and not able to sneak out of my dorm but my friends had gone without me. I woke up to a phone call saying that Millie had been injured, she was my best friend ever since we were kids and I couldn't bear the thought to lose her she made everything so much better, sometimes she worked just as well as alcohol and drugs at numbing the affects.

I took off running for the school hospital not even caring about the dorm advisor and how much trouble I was in. I found her lying unconscious I couldn't handle it, I wished and prayed that everything would get better. The doctors didn't know if she would wake up and no one was able to get out of anyone at the party what actually happened. I can't even remember doing it but I passed out and when I woke up Millie was leaning over me and I could tell she was concerned.

That was when I found that I was a Spirit user, I had healed Millie. I was lucky she wasn't close to death to create a bond between us. Millie was the reason I left my old school, she did the research on Lord Ivashkov and found out where he was teaching and told me I should leave. It took a lot of convincing on her part but I finally decided too. My mother was easier to convince about leaving, she was more than happy to send me to another school if it meant I could learn something about this strange ability I seemed to have.

Adrian was a little sceptical about my emotion and mind reading abilities but it didn't take long to convince him otherwise. We sat there in the classroom while I shifted through his memories looking for something no one would know about him and eventually I found them, I found the memories of when Adrian had met Adrianna's mother.

When I noticed Adrianna it was the eyes that shocked me, I had never seen the bright green emerald eyes on a dhampir before and I knew a few dhampirs that had Ivashkov Moroi parents. I was curious as to who she was, the only things I had gotten on her was what I had heard on the rumour mill.

The thing that shocked me was just how protective Adrian and Adrianna's boyfriend, Spencer Hasting was a Spirit user as well, were over her. As soon as Spencer first noticing me watching her he figured out that I was a Spirit user and instantly confronted me but I had already been warned from Adrian to not say anything about Adrianna to anyone.

Sitting in Headmistress Antakov's office that I was able to get a bit more information on Adrianna, Adrian had given me permission, apparently on her behalf, to go through her memories. I was shocked at just how different her mind was to everyone else's.

Normally most people have their memories sorted into two different main categories, short term and long term and then in the each of those it is sorted again but with Adrianna she has no short term or long term memory, just the smaller categories. It seems as though her family and friends all had their own category, it was confusing being in her head and the only reason I was able to find the memories to help prove that Adrianna and Guardian Anastas weren't involved in a romantic relationship was because he had his own category and I was able to spot it instantly, which I held to the fact that she did have feelings towards him.

Yes there were moments between the two of them that could have ended up leading towards something inappropriate and I had even shown Adrian one particular memory of the two of them in the snow when Guardian Anastas said 'we can't do this', it helped show Adrian that even though they may have feelings towards each other they were both smart enough to not do anything about it and the moments they had had in the past were just innocent moments that happened.

As soon as the two of them stepped into Headmistress Antakov's office I knew this meeting was a mistake, they were both just as confused and shocked as to what was going on and when it was revealed that they both had feelings towards each other they were shocked, they didn't know the other felt the same and I now knew it was only time until something happened and after seeing their auras I just hoped they could wait until Adrianna's graduation.

I pulled Adrianna into the dream with hopes of finding out more about her, usually when I'm in a dream with only one person I can access their emotions and memories but with her I couldn't, it's like the Spirit in her was preventing me which was odd. I had been in a dream with Adrian before and I wasn't able to access his emotions or memories and we put it down to the Spirit in both of us battling each other in a Spirit dream but Adrianna, she was a dhampir with no magic in her.

Adrianna wasn't saying anything in the dream and I had no idea what she was thinking since it was so quiet and for once I was grateful but I knew I had to speak to Adrian about the blanket of quietness I was receiving.

It wasn't until I noticed her eyes well up that I felt bad, it didn't matter if I felt her emotions during the meeting, I had no idea what happened after they went to Guardian Petrov's office or even the rest of the day, all I knew was that she didn't have her friends, some of the seniors were out on a field trip.

Adrian was annoyed to hear that I pulled Adrianna into a dream but when I explained what happened in the dream and how I was unable to feel her emotions or even read her memories he was at a lost. My abilities were new to Adrian, he wasn't too sure how to go about what I could do and how to work on them but learning that something like this could block them was something we might be able to work with.

I spent the following week keeping an eye on Adrianna from the distance, I was curious as hell about her. I knew it was a little creepy watching her like I did but the past week was like a rollercoaster of emotions for her and for some reason ever since that meeting when I first went through her emotions and memories they now came easier to me, even with a distance between the two of us and I assumed it was the Spirit making the link easier.

"Alright dude I get it, I know Ivashkov is hot but there's no need to watch her like this" Stefan spoke as he slid in beside me, I looked at him and a sly grin appeared on my face. He was right there was no way I could disagree with his comment.

It was during the senior field experience when Stefan and Emily had come over and introduced themselves to me and I had slowly joined in with the rest of their friends.

"Who's hot?" Jeremy piped in only hearing some of the conversation

"Stefan's talking about Ivashkov again"

"Oh yeah she is hot and Hasting is an idiot for letting her go" Jeremy spoke and a grin appeared on both of their faces.

"Yes but tell me why a senior who is only months away from graduating will give the two of you the light of day" I raised an eyebrow at them and they both hung their heads knowing that their dream of having sex with the hot senior won't come true.

"Come on Stef, you know as well as I do that Adrianna isn't like that" Emily's voice was followed by the sound of her hitting him across the back of the head.

"Owe" I laughed as Stefan rubbed his head and Emily grinned at me.

"Don't act like you didn't deserve it, Adrianna doesn't deserve to be treated that way" Emily replied while Stefan pouted at her but she didn't say anything.

The four of us became fast friends once Emily and Stefan had introduced themselves, yes I did feel lonely being by myself all the time but it was hard with my abilities and having to explain them to someone new whereas Millie was already my best friend and understood me. I ended up explaining my abilities to them once we got closer and they were just curious instead of annoyed, scared anything else that most people are and I appreciated their understanding.

"How did this all start anyway?" Emily questioned.

"Oh I caught James staring at her again" Stefan replied with a shrug and I nudged him

"Okay seriously James, just go and ask the poor girl out and let her reject you once and for all. Both Stefan and Jeremy have done" I looked at them both in shock and they looked a little embarrassed but it was then a memory of Stefan's popped into my head, apparently the two of them have made out before.

I looked at Stefan with a sly grin and all he did was bury his head in his arms trying to ignore the looks the rest of our friends were giving him, "What did you see James?"

"Oh just the fact that Ivashkov and Stefan have made out before" Emily's jaw dropped and Jeremy's face was blank.

"You asshole, you didn't tell me!" Jeremy finally spoke and Emily still couldn't speak but in the end she ended up laughing.

"What's so funny?" I questioned giving her a funny look, I honestly didn't understand what was so funny about this situation.

"Oh just that when I think back on it I can think which party this was, it was the summer before freshman year. The two of them disappeared for a couple of hours, I think we all just assumed they had sex"

"Did you two have sex?" Jeremy exclaimed obviously wanting to know the truth, I didn't know why he was so hung up on Adrianna like Stefan was. Jeremy tended to be able to get any girl he wanted whether they were dhampir or Moroi, there was just something about him.

Stefan was almost the same but he didn't tend to go through the girls as fast as Jeremy did and something tells me that next year during our senior year Stefan may get worse due to the ending of his own social life.

"No we didn't have sex, it's just what James said. We made out, that was it. I don't even think she remembers since we haven't spoken about it since" Stefan said nonchalantly and we all looked over to the table that Adrianna shared with her friends.

They all seemed to be laughing at something and it was like she knew we were watching her, her head turned and looked at us for a second before giving us a smile and turning back to her friends. Normally I would find this a little weird but I knew there was a strange connection between Stefan, Emily and Adrianna since they all lived at Court together but I don't know how that works since I've rarely seen them all have a conversation.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Adrianna POV

My phone rang for the fifth time and I ignored it for the fifth time, I was laying on my bed staring at my ceiling and my door was locked meaning I didn't want to be disturbed by my friends but it also didn't stop them from calling my phone every chance they got. My phone was sitting on desk making it impossible for me to even know who was calling but my guesses were a combination of Bri, Damon and maybe Josh if he was feeling up to it.

It had been a week since I had been called into the headmistresses' office and Petrov's not long after where my feelings towards Nikolaus were questioned and true to Petrov and dad's word my sessions with Nikolaus were now being watched and I didn't like it.

I hated having dad there watching the sessions because it removed the normalcy that we had about them, we were able to taunt each other and bring out our anger in hopes of making the spar better. Dad being there removed it, Nikolaus and I were silent and it wasn't until the spar had finished that Nikolaus would finally speak but it was to only ask how my classes were going and if I needed help with my homework.

There was a knock at my door and I propped myself up on my elbows and starred at the door, all my friends knew that when it was locked I didn't want to be bothered so I was curious as hell as to who was knocking on my door.

"Dri…" I let out a groan as I laid back down and placed the pillow over my head.

I completely forgot that Lissa said she would try and send Rose out here so I could talk to her but right now I didn't want to talk to anyone.

"I could just as easily go find someone to unlock this door for me" I didn't say anything in reply to Rose, I just continued to lay there with the pillow over my face just hoping she would go away.

It probably only 10 minutes later that I heard my door open, "has she been like this all week?" Rose questioned and I was curious as to who opened the door for her and just as I was about to lift the pillow I heard the voice.

"Not too sure, in class she seems fine and I've only had two sessions with her this week compared to our usual five or six" Nikolaus replied, I hoped if I laid there they would assume I was asleep and leave me alone.

"Five or six? No wonder she is top of her class"

"I think the training she has with you and Belikov also helps and the fact that she spends more time in the gym compared to the rest of her classmates"

Rose made a noise in response to Nikolaus and I had a feeling why, I was also expecting a lecture from her later on it.

"I should really go, I'm not allowed to be in here"

"I get it Anastas, thanks for unlocking her door for me" Rose responded and it wasn't long until I heard the door and assumed it was just Rose and I

"Why didn't you tell me you had that many sessions with Anastas?" Rose finally spoke after both of us being silent for a couple of minutes, I guess my plan at pretending to sleep didn't work.

I removed the pillow from my face and looked at her for a moment before sitting up and allowing her to join me "You told me to take every opportunity I could, I asked how often we could have sessions and he said it would depend on the week and his shifts"

"I also don't recall telling you to fall in love with him"

"Why is everyone so convinced it's love, why can't it be some stupid school girl crush that everyone else seems to have at one point or another towards a teacher?" I groaned

"It's just what Lissa told me" Rose replied, I figured as much. Lissa said she would get Rose out here, of course that involved her hearing the whole story

"And with auras they either see love or lust, I get it"

"Come on let's go talk in the gym since you haven't been training this week" Rose spoke and I was a little reluctant to get up and follow her, I didn't want to admit that my training had slipped this week but I had no choice.

Rose and I walked in silence towards the gym and I couldn't help but notice just how many of the novices were gawking at her as we walked past, I would have thought by now that they were used to seeing Rose and Dimitri on the grounds.

"Just taps no pinning so we can still talk?" Rose and I nodded in agreement, at least I wouldn't have to worry about her all of a sudden pinning me to the ground.

"Why the drop in sessions then?" Rose finally spoke after a couple of minutes of silence and a couple of taps

"Dad, he makes them awkward, he just sits there and watches us. Petrov said our sessions had to be watched, I figured it would be easier if we didn't have them"

"You shouldn't let your training slip because of this"

"What about you then Rose? You dropped out and took off once Dimitri was turned, wasn't that also around the same time people begun wondering as to what was happening in those sessions? You can't deny that the end of your senior year was hell because of the rumours going around between the Moroi" I snapped at her and instantly felt bad when I saw a flash of hurt go through her eyes for a moment before they harden up. "I'm sorry"

I knew I shouldn't anger her while we were sparring, it could make things worse for myself but I really didn't really mean it.

"Anastas is still here, it doesn't matter if you were both embarrassed last week by the outcome of that meeting. He could have said no to the sessions and palmed you off to someone else, he is risking everything so he can still spend some time with you and it doesn't matter to him if your dad is watching them" Rose spoke as she tapped my arm I was angry with myself for letting myself get that distracted but where the hell did she get this information.

"What and he opened up to you when he unlocked my door?"

"No, I'm assuming. After everything Dimitri and I sat down and spoke about everything, he knew he should have come clean after everything with Dashkov and had someone else take my sessions but he didn't because by that point it was too far, he wanted those moments with me. Even if he hadn't been turned and if for some reason our sessions were being scrutinized he still would have agreed to do them"

"Then what the hell am I meant to do about all this then Rose, I thought that's why you were here to give me some lecture on how to be because it's only been a week and I hate knowing that even though he feels the same nothing can happen because after I graduate I may not even seen him again" I looked at her and was so annoyed at myself for how emotional I was getting over this

I stood up straight for a moment and I blinked trying to get rid of the tears.

The anger Rose had on her face from when I brought up Dimitri being turned disappeared at the sight of me crying, "I didn't come here to give you a lecture, I don't know what to tell you because the only reason I made it through senior year was because he was turned, I didn't have to worry about a future with him because I knew I wouldn't get it"

"But didn't you have the hope about the possibility of him maybe being turned back?" I managed to tap her and get a point but I knew my question shocked her, this was something I shouldn't have known.

"You really need to stop eavesdropping on your dad and Lissa" Rose scolded me and I just grinned as she tapped me, they all knew I had a habit of eaves dropping on their conversation but yet nothing bad had happened.

"But spirit concerns me"

"I get it but yes I did have that hope but that hope could have been a dead end, I was trying to go on the fact that he would forever be like that. In that constant state of evil"

"Yes but Anastas isn't a Strigoi, I don't know what would be worse. Him being a Strigoi or me knowing he's out there but I can't have him or see him"

"Dri you don't want him as Strigoi, you wouldn't even wish that on your worst enemy"

"I don't know, Spencer is pretty annoying right now" I mumbled the last part hoping Rose wouldn't hear me but by the look on her face she did.

"Spencer must have thought he was doing the right thing…"

"He should have come to me first, I get that I hurt him but I didn't think he hated me that much" I cut Rose off and she shook her head.

"Dri just let it go, Spencer thought he was doing the right thing. We both know that student teacher relationships aren't allowed but they do happen every now and then, we have protocols in place because of it and you're lucky you don't have long left until graduation otherwise one of you would have been moved" I went to tap Rose but my anger came through and the tap turned into a punch, Rose didn't say anything but from the look on her face she didn't expect me to hit that hard.

"I know Rose, I understand I honestly do. I didn't want this situation but how can I make it better, what did you and Dimitri do?"

"There's nothing you can do, you just have to keep going and push aside the fact that Adrian is there constantly watching the two of you and just be yourselves. I understand it must be annoying and awkward having Adrian watching you but be grateful, things could have been much worse and for now Anastas is still here" the punch I got from Rose then must have been pay back from mine and the smirk on her face confirmed it.

"This isn't very helpful"

"I knew I wouldn't helpful, I don't know what you would have expected from me Dri. Yes I fell for my mentor when I was your age but the situation is different, we didn't get caught until after it was too late for them to do anything"

"But what about dad then?"

"He's just worried, he was the only one hurt out of the whole situation with Dimitri and I…" I stopped paying attention after that, did she just say her and dad dated. I had even stopped paying attention to our spar and she managed to get a few points in

"Did you just say you and dad dated?" I sputtered out

"You didn't know?"

"No!" I exclaimed, completely shocked about this news.

"Yes your dad and I dated, it started not long after I returned from Russia and it ended not long after my innocence was proven for not killing the previous queen"

"So dad was hurt, is that why he took off and ended up in Melbourne"

"Yes, I don't know exactly where your dad went, no one does. We only know he was in Australia at one point because you are here but as for the rest he won't let up, I think Ellie might know but that's it."

"Alright so dad is worried I'm following in your footsteps, he won't even talk to me. We haven't spoken all week, I understand at first I was angry because I was ambushed but now I don't know what's happened"

"Dri I don't know, he won't talk to me about this, he won't let me in with this. I've tried talking to him about it but he won't budge"

I groaned out in frustration before concentrating back on the spar, I hated this. I know dad and I fight but we were known for our screaming matches instead of silent treatments, yes there were moments one of us would lose it and walk out but this was different, those moments would only last hours not days.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be any help, I have to go meet with Dimitri before we head off. You don't fight as well when your distracted" she stood up straight and smirked at me as I pulled a face, I hated that she was right, this wasn't the first I had heard this.

"Why is Dimitri here?"

"We're heading to Russia for a couple of days, Dimitri hasn't seen his family for a while and I miss them as well"

"I miss Olena as well, when are they coming out here next?" it was true, I missed them tones.

When I was younger Dimitri's family had come out to Court since there was still a stage where everyone was worried about me and I got along with his family incredibly well. Zoya and I were incredibly close when we were younger but it has been years since I've seen her.

"I'm not too sure, it was something we were going to discuss while we are there. Don't tell anyone but we were hoping for them to come out during the summer and it also helps that Zoya will be here as well…."

My squeal cut Rose off and she had to place her hands over her ears, she shot me a look and I gave her a sheepish smile. It didn't matter if Zoya was a year older than me and meant to have graduated last year, something had happened and she had to repeat a year pushing back her graduation. I don't know the full extent of what happened, all I was told was that she didn't fail and it was out of everyone's control.

Rose's face fell then, I wonder if it then dawned on her what it would mean having both Zoya and me at Court, I grinned at her.

"No, whatever you are planning now you should stop"

"Oh come on, having me, Zoya, Bri, Damon and Josh all at Court. That sounds like fun to me" I continued to grin at her and she shook her head

"Don't say a word to Dimitri otherwise he will keep the two of you apart" I frowned but she laughed before giving me a hug.

"I really should go, don't mention anything of this to anyone it's just all in the air at the moment"

"But Rose they're my family too…" I pleaded with her and she couldn't argue with that.

It wasn't until I was a bit older that I was told that my great uncle was in fact Dimitri's dad, it's all I was told. I tried to ask more questions about the situation but it just caused everyone to share a look before looking at me and Dimitri said no sternly before getting up and leaving, the amount of anger in his voice and visible on his face made me drop the questions.

"I'll try and get them out here, just keep this between us alright?"

"I promise Rose, have fun in Russia, love you"

"Love you too Dri" Rose gave me a smile before she left me alone in the gym

Speaking with Rose gave me a bit more clarity about the whole situation with Nikolaus, we were both right when we said she wasn't helpful. She knew she wouldn't be and I wasn't sure how she would be but she did the best she could and I understood that given the situation Nikolaus and I were both in, we had it pretty easy and things could be much worse…


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Adrianna POV

Three weeks, Three weeks since that embarrassing meeting where my feelings towards Nikolaus had come out into full knowledge and I had broken one of the rules that had been put in place, no more sneaking out but yet here I was sitting out in the clearing after curfew just waiting for the moment Nikolaus comes and join me.

The snow had cleared up and even though it was still on the colder side, sitting in the sun like this was reasonably warm for this time of year.

"What are you doing out here" the accent surprised me, I turned my head and found Dimitri heading my way. I was confused as to why Dimitri was out here with me instead of Nikolaus, there was a small part of me hoping for once we could have a moment to ourselves.

"Couldn't sleep, what are you doing here? Last I heard you were in Russia" I replied while turning my head away from him, I didn't want him to see the disappointment in my face for not being able to have a moment alone with Nikolaus. It didn't matter if I was happy to see Dimitri, I wanted to see Nikolaus more.

"Rose and I returned a couple of days ago and Adrian asked if we could come out here"

"How's the family?" I questioned knowing he wouldn't tell me why dad wanted them out here.

"They're good, they miss you"

"I miss them too" I said softly.

"I know Dri but it's hard with you here and them in Baia"

"I know, I just hate it. They're family to me as well but I don't get to see them as much as I do my little family here, it doesn't matter if I spend most of the year out here. Dad is here, Ellie visits regularly as do you and Rose, Christian comes out every now and then and I know Lissa visits are rare but I still get to see her when she comes out here" I snapped at him.

"Dri…" there was such authority in his voice that I had no choice but to turn my head and finally look at him sitting beside me. "What are you really doing out here?"

"What are you doing out here? Something tells me you weren't wondering the grounds, I don't believe it's something we share"

"I came across Anastas and he mentioned that you were out here"

"And let me guess you punched him the face?" I smirked at him and I saw the slight hint of a smile and the amusement in his eyes.

"No, it would have been a different story had something happened between the two of you" I turned away, feeling guilty for not telling him the truth.

There had never been secrets between Rose, Dimitri and myself, I knew I could trust them with anything and they wouldn't go to dad unless I was in serious trouble and this was something I thought they would go to dad about.

"Did Olena say anything about Zoya?" I finally spoke, I wanted to try and weed out of Dimitri about whether or not I would see them all during the summer.

"Yes she said Zoya is excited about finally graduating but I have a feeling you're trying to find out whether or not Zoya is excited about seeing you"

"Fine yes, I want to know if she is. Come on all fresh Guardians come out to Court for their placements along with most Moroi" I grinned at him.

"Yes Zoya is excited about being able to see you during the summer, she misses you probably as much as you miss her and I'm incredibly worried about what's going to happen at Court between you and your friends and her and her friends" I knew where his concerns came from.

Zoya and I had shared emails in the past and even though we didn't communicate as often as we both liked we still tried to keep each other updated but this year, I had barely thought about letting her know what had been happening in my life this year and I haven't even mentioned my break up with Spencer to her.

From what I heard with Zoya she didn't take after her brother or even Dimitri, she was more like me than Dimitri liked. Her and her friends were in trouble just as much as I was but she had one down side, she wasn't the top of her class like I am and am able to get out of being out of as much trouble had the situation been different. I knew Olena and Karolina aren't happy with her behaviour.

"Oh come on Dimitri, it will be a lot of fun having all of us at Court"

"I'm thinking about talking to Adrian about that actually"

"Oh come on, it won't be that bad. Do you honestly think that with all of us being freshly new Guardians we would do anything to risk our placements? I've worked long and hard to keep my place at the top, why would I do something so stupid during the summer to risk a decent placement?"

"Like falling for your teacher?" he scolded, I wondered when he would loop back around to this.

"I didn't do that on purpose, you can't yell at me for that! Nothing's happened and with dad watching us every goddamn session nothing ever will" I snapped in response before standing up and walking away from him.

When Dimitri didn't say anything in response I turned around and looked at him, he was watching me and it was weird. It was like he was trying to work something out and I don't remember the last time I saw Dimitri watching me like this, he still didn't say anything and I shook my head at him before heading back to my dorm.

Dimitri POV

Adrian had asked both Rose and myself to come and visit him at St Vladimir's, he said he wanted to talk to us and it had to be face to face, it was then I wondered what was going on with Dri.

Before I left to go home to Baia I had heard that Dri had fallen for her mentor, at first I wasn't happy because of the situation she had put herself in but when both Lissa and Rose assured me that nothing had happened between the two of them I felt a little at ease.

Ever since Adrian had brought Dri home I had been protective over her, even at first I didn't want her to attend St Vladimir's, I wanted her to have another year at home getting used to everything before we threw her into the wolves.

Dri was family and not in the same way that Lissa and Christian were family, at one point we had found out that my father was in fact Adrian's uncle making us all family. When my mother first met Dri she was gushing over how cute the seven year old was and when we spotted Zoya and Dri speaking in hushed tones in the corner of the backyard with massive grins on their faces we knew it was only the beginning of a friendship between the two of them.

I did slightly worry about how Court was going to be once Zoya arrived after graduation but I knew Dri, she had worked hard to stay number one and wouldn't risk her placement, Zoya was something different though. She was sitting somewhere in the middle of her novices and I knew both my mother and Karolina weren't happy about her behavioural issues.

I had left Adrian's suite with the idea of heading towards the gym and getting a few punches in on the bag, I had only been back from Russia for a couple of days and I was still struggling. Every time I went home I was stuck with the images of what happened with Rose while I was a Strigoi and I hated it, I hated that I became that creature, I hated I did that to Rose and every day I was thankful that she had forgiven me.

"Anastas" I spoke shocking the younger Guardian, I didn't know why he was out here and at this point in time I didn't care. I was annoyed about the situation him and Dri were in and I wasn't impressed with him at all.

"Guardian Belikov, I didn't know you were at Court" he nodded at me.

"I'm not planning on staying here long, what are you doing out here at this time of night"

"I received word that Adrianna has snuck out of her dorm"

"I see, I will handle it, you head back to your own room" he was silent for a moment before turning and leaving, the only thing he said was the clearing by the dorms.

I headed to the clearing and was not surprised when I found Dri sitting on the bench enjoying the sun, more often than not during the summer she was found outside enjoying the sun instead of sleeping like she should be.

I didn't mean to scold her for falling for her mentor, I had been in the same situation with Rose and she was right when she said I couldn't exactly yell at her for it. I was just disappointed she had landed herself in a situation that could make her future worse, I knew she didn't do it on purpose, I didn't with Rose.

I was watching her hoping to figure out what was going on in her head, normally Dri let her guard down and made her emotions so clear on her face but right now her mask was up and I didn't know what she was thinking. It was like when she was first brought home all over again, she was staring at me as if I was speaking in another language.

After she left I placed my elbows on my knees and rested my head in my hands, I knew I should have said something to prevent her from walking off but I didn't know what to say.

"Everything alright comrade?" I heard Roza's voice and lifted my head to find her standing there with a scowl on her face and something told me she had come across Dri on her way.

"Depends on how much trouble I'm in, I've seen that face a couple of times and it never ended well on my end" I replied calmly hoping she would stay calm herself.

"You yelled at Dri for getting into a situation we ourselves were in?"

"I didn't mean it Roza, I just…"

"I know" she said softly as she walked over and took a seat beside me, it was then I knew she wasn't mad

"I just hate that she has ended up in that same situation, we struggled trying to prove ourselves. Roza she grew up at Court hearing some of the older Moroi whispering about us"

"I know this Dimitri and she hates that she's in this situation, she said it was easier before Hasting came forward and said something, she wished he had stayed quiet"

"But he did the right thing"

"Did he? Look at it, both Anastas and Dri were going by believing that the other one didn't feel the same, neither of them acted on their feelings because they didn't want to embarrass themselves but yet they were both embarrassed by having to sit through that meeting. What should have happened was two separate meetings so nothing would have happened, you heard Adrian earlier"

"I know, he wishes the meetings were done separately as well and he hates how he can see that Dri is hurting over this but she won't say anything to him about it"

"At least the two of them are talking now, before we left Dri said he was ignoring her" Rose replied and we were both silent, I was thinking over what Adrian had said and I assumed Rose was the same. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to my body.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Adrianna POV

It's been a couple of days since I spoke with Dimitri in the clearing and the following morning when I woke up I had message from him apologising for yelling at me like he did, I appreciated him apologising and I understood where both him and Rose were coming from but it doesn't mean I still liked the fact that I was scolded like a bad puppy.

I entered the gym for my session with Nikolaus, this time round we had to make the session in the morning which meant Bri and Damon missed out this morning. When I entered I was shocked to find that dad wasn't here yet, he was normally here before I was.

"Morning Nik, where's dad?" I gave him a smile as I placed my bag on the ground and pulled my coat off.

"Morning Dri, I'm not too sure I was hoping you had heard from him" he gave me a smile back but there was something unsettling about it.

I had woken up late and didn't have time to check my phone, I just grabbed it and threw it into my bag before leaving my dorm and heading to the gym. I walked over to my bag and dug around for my phone and pulled it out noticing I had a missed call from dad and a message from him.

 _I won't be able to make it to your session with Anastas today, I'm trusting both of you to not do anything reckless or stupid. I love you Dri_

"He's not coming, we're alone" I spoke once throwing my phone back in my bag.

"Did he say why?" he questioned as he walked over the storage room, I was curious as to what he was doing.

"Nope, just that he was trusting the both of us not to do anything reckless or stupid" I spoke and Nikolaus stopped walking, he turned and looked at me and I was instantly worried about what was going to happen.

But he didn't say anything, he shook his head before turning around and grabbing one of the practise dummies as well as two blunt stakes.

"Is everything alright Nik?" I questioned, there was something off about him and I just hoped it wasn't because of this situation.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, do you want to start with the stake and the dummy or do you want to spar with the blunt stakes?"

I watched him for a moment hoping to see something flash through his eyes or even appear on his face but there was nothing he was keeping his emotions off his face. In the end I held my hand out, "dummy" was all I said and he handed me the stake before setting up the dummy for me and of course he had to grab the tallest dummy in the storage cupboard.

I knew why Nikolaus grabbed the tallest dummy and I hated it, growing up I had been told my smaller body structure would be able to work both for me and against me. We never really focused on how my smaller body would be able to work for me, instead we always worked on how it could be a disadvantage and right now it's what we were doing, he grabbed the tallest dummy so I would have to try and stake it.

"Alright stop" Nikolaus finally spoke, he must have realised this was something I had been practising.

As novices we might not have access to our own silver stakes yet but in the storage cupboard were an range of blunt stakes that we could practise with and I might not have been one to pull out the dummies on my own I did use the blunt stakes when sparring with Damon and Josh on the rare occasion. They liked sparring against someone smaller and I liked going against their height.

I turned and looked at him and he threw my water bottle at me. "Thanks, why did I stop?"

"The last time I had you doing that you struggled but now you aren't, I'm guessing you've been practising"

"I have, Damon and Josh might not be as tall as that dummy but they are taller than me and we use the blunt stakes"

"Very well, come on we'll spar"

"No broken ribs this time" I smirked at him and he shook his head and I was glad to see a smile on his face at my teasing.

"I didn't do that on purpose, if you want I can?"

"Oh I don't know if I appreciate having four more broken ribs this close to graduation"

"Who said anything about four? I was planning on all twelve" my jar dropped and I stared at him before he laughed. "Dri I was joking, you were the one that started it"

"I didn't think you would take it that far" I spoke softly and his face finally softened allowing me to see something on his face

"Dri I would never intentionally hurt you, I hated seeing you in that much pain when I broke your ribs"

I turned away from him to prevent myself from saying what I wanted, I was hurting over the situation we were in but it wasn't intentional and he was probably hurting as well if he still felt the same towards me.

"Dri…" Nikolaus spoke quietly and when I turned around he was standing beside me, incredibly close. I took a deep breathe before taking a step back, being too close to him was tempting and dad was trusting us. I hoped that if we made it through this without any problems then maybe just maybe dad would stop watching us.

"Dad's trusting us, whatever you were going to say can't be said. Nothing that can put us in trouble" I replied before heading over to mats hoping he would pick up that I wanted to spar instead of continue to talk.

I was standing there alone for a moment with him facing me before joining me and it was in that moment I really wanted to know what was going through his head.

My session with Nikolaus was finally finished, there were too many moments when the temptation to just lean over and kiss him was just too damn high and I was grateful when he said we were done, I didn't even say anything I just grabbed my things and left.

After a quick shower I headed towards breakfast and slid into the seat beside Bri not even caring that Izzy, Eric, Caroline and Elliot weren't even here yet. I needed to talk to Bri.

"How was your session with Anastas?" Bri questioned, I looked over at Damon and Josh but they seemed to engross in their own conversation. Normally I would question why they were whispering like they were but right now I didn't care.

"Dad wasn't there" I replied grabbing some bacon from Damon's plate, I was surprised when he didn't react. We both knew he begun grabbing more bacon when I had sessions with Nikolaus and he pretended to be annoyed when I stole his bacon but it was all in good fun.

"But I thought the whole point was for him to be there?" Bri replied as shocked as I was when I read dad's message.

After the meeting I had spoken to Bri, Damon and Josh in private and asked what the two boys exactly knew, in the end they had suspected and were just teasing me about it all. Bri was the only one that knew that Nikolaus felt something back and I just slightly altered the meeting when I told the boys what happened, I just said that it was my feelings being questioned.

From that moment things between my friends and Spencer's group of friends were tense, I had always gotten along with his friends and same with my friends but from that moment on my friends couldn't stand Spencer or his friends and I was curious to if Spencer's friends knew what was going on because not a single rumour had started or were they still annoyed at me for the whole break up.

"So did I, but he didn't say anything about why he wouldn't be there just that he was trusting us"

"What happened?" Bri questioned realising I was over thinking something and I was nothing.

"Nothing as such, just a few times where something could have happened" I replied before resting my head on Bri's shoulder while nibbling on the bacon in my hand and it was then I finally took notice of Damon and Josh.

They kept looking over at Spencer's table, I was incredibly curious as to what those two were planning. "What are you two up to?" I spoke and they both jumped before looking at me

"Nothing Dri" they both grinned at me and I narrowed my eyes at them.

"What's going on?" Izzy spoke as her and Elliot sat down at the table.

"Those two are up to something, where are Caroline and Elliot?" Bri questioned

"Caroline is sleeping because she was up late working on an assignment, I think she's waking up just before first period and Elliot is in the huge line waiting for a feeder" Izzy replied

"What are they up to?" Eric questioned while looking at the boys but they didn't respond.

"They keep looking at Spencer but they won't tell us" I replied while shooting both of the boys a look and I think that was enough to stop them from planning whatever they were for the time being.

Our morning classes had passed without any word from Damon and Josh about what they were up to and when lunch came around they didn't even look at Spencer's table making me almost think I had imagined what was happening during breakfast.

Fifth period was quiet enough aside from being kept behind so the teacher could talk to me about my assignment, I ended up entering sixth period late, well I thought I was late our teacher hadn't even turned up yet but what shocked me was when I entered the classroom.

I had entered to find Spencer standing behind a wall of flames while yelling at Damon and Josh who were standing there with smug smiles on their faces and quickly looking around I noticed Eric concentrating a little too hard, it didn't take much for me to realise that it was Eric causing the fire.

I looked around for Bri and noticed her standing in the corner talking with one of our fellow novices Aiden not even paying attention to what was going on, it was then I wondered if this was what they had planned and they all left me out of it.

"OI!" I jumped at the sound of the voice not even hearing them walk up behind me and I turned my head to see Nikolaus standing there.

I looked back over at the boys and the wall of flames had disappeared while Spencer's clothes looked a little singed and his face was flushed, he noticed me taking in the scene and he glared at me. I couldn't believe he thought I was to blame for all of this.

"What is going on in here and where is Miss Bennett?" Nikolaus questioned and everyone stayed quiet. "Very well, Mr Hasting, Mr Henderson, Mr Winchester, Mr Zeklos and Miss Ivashkov follow me while the rest of you stay in your seats and wait for Miss Bennett" Nikolaus order and I stared at him before looking at Damon and Josh knowing that if I was going to get in trouble there would be hell to pay for the two of them.

"Dri" Damon whispered trying to get my attention but all I did was glare at him before looking ahead, I didn't want to deal with this, at least not until I knew if I was getting in trouble anyway.

I'm sure all my friends had perfectly good reasons for doing what they did but it doesn't mean they should have. Bri is the only one that knows the extent as to why Spencer and I aren't talking while Damon and Josh thought it was because he told Antakov and Petrov about me having feelings towards Nikolaus but as for Eric? I'm not too sure what his reasons were for going along with this.

"Dri please listen to us" Josh whispered this time and I stopped walking and stared at them, did they honestly not expect me to be angry about this.

"You've got to be kidding me right?" I hissed at them both and Nikolaus had stopped having heard one of us speak. I looked between Damon and Josh before taking a deep breath and pushing past them both.

"You're despicable" Spencer hissed when I walked past him, I stopped and faced him.

"What did you just say?" I questioned completely ignoring Nikolaus' request for us to keep walking.

"You heard me, I said you're despicable. You can't even face me yourself, you have to get your lapdogs to do your dirty work for you"

"You're kidding right? I had no freaking clue what those idiots had planned and if I wanted to get back at you for what you did I would have done something so much better then threaten you with fire"

"For what I did? What about what you did? I don't care what Lazar said, I swear there is something going on between you and Anastas here and I will catch the two of you in the middle of a comprising situation. You were acting weird before we broke up and I honestly believe it's because you were fucking the both of us" the amount of venom in Spencer's voice shocked me, but only for a minute.

After I recovered I punched him square in the face not even caring that I heard a crack. I pushed past him and kept going, I didn't care where I went I just needed to get the hell away from Spencer.

I ignored the calls of Damon and Josh and Nikolaus yelling at me for what I just did, I knew I would be punished and I will have to sit through lecture after lecture from everyone about punching Spencer like I did. I kept going and didn't stop until I was in the gym.

I headed straight to the punching bag knowing it was the only way to take out the anger I had towards Spencer, I could have kept punching in the hall, kept going until I was dragged off his body. Hell if that was case I would have been lucky if I wasn't failed like Collins and have to repeat my senior year, at thought my punches were harder making me realise just how disappointed my family would be if I did have to repeat the year.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Adrianna POV

"What the hell were you thinking!" I heard Nikolaus yell, but I ignored him.

I had been in the gym alone for a while, I'm assuming Nikolaus continued taking the guys to wherever he had planned before coming and looking for me but we all knew I wasn't exactly one for good hiding spots, I tended to stick to the gym or my dorm room.

"Dri what you did was too far, you shouldn't have punched Hasting in the face like you did. The amount of trouble you could be in for that" I lost again, I stopped mid punch and spun around to look at Nikolaus.

"You're kidding right! Did you not hear what he said to me or you just don't care that he yelled out in the hall that the two of us were having sex?" I yelled at him and when I noticed something flash through his eyes I calmed down a bit knowing I wasn't in this situation alone.

"It doesn't give you the right to punch him in the face though"

"Seriously? Tell me if the situation was different what would you have done?" I questioned but his silence gave me an answer, he would have done the same thing but couldn't voice it, he couldn't tell me that my actions were the right thing to do. "Exactly"

I turned back to the punching bag but I didn't even get a punch in before he had made a grab for my wrist. "What did I say about strapping them?" he spoke softly and I attempted to rip my arm from his grasp but his grip tightened.

"First I'm getting yelled at for punching Spencer and now I'm getting yelled at for not strapping my hands, anything else you'd like to add. Why not make it a trifecta?" I snapped at him

"I could add in your shitty attitude" he replied and I was finally able to pull my wrist from his grasp.

"Go for it, see if I fucking care! I'm sick of, I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm the bad guy with the whole Spencer thing but yet he fucking broke up with me and then decide to go to the teachers about us! I have nothing to do with what happened earlier but yet Spencer blames me and decided to yell loud enough for rumours to start about the two of us!" I yelled at Nikolaus letting out the last of my frustrations before collapsing and laying down on the floor closing my eyes.

"Dri…" Nikolaus spoke softly but when I didn't say anything I heard retreating footsteps and it didn't take long for him to return. "Are you going to let me clean your hands or are you going to yell at me again?"

I opened my eyes and looked at him, he was sitting next to me with the first aid kit resting in his laps. I sat up and looked at him, "I'm sorry"

He shook his head before grabbing my hand and begun cleaning the wounds that were caused from the punching bag. "Don't worry about it, I'm annoyed at what Hasting said as well but there is nothing I can do about it and you shouldn't have done anything either, don't you think he was baiting you or even us? You heard him, he is convinced something is going on, if I had reacted to what he said there is his proof"

"I didn't think of it like that" I spoke softly as I hung my head and looked at our hands hoping to distract myself from the idea of him being so close and us being alone.

"That's because there are times where you don't think Dri, you just act" he spoke and it reminded me of the conversation I had with Bri when I first discovered I had feelings towards him, she had said the same thing about me and she hoped that Nikolaus would be able to make me think before acting.

"I've heard that before, Bri says I can be like a tornado at times"

"I can see that" I looked up at him and couldn't help but shake my head at the smirk on his face, he was teasing me.

"ADRIANNA MEREDITH IVASHKOV!" I heard dad's voice and couldn't help the flinch that came with it, I haven't heard dad this angry in a while. Not even during Christmas break when I finally got around to telling him about the emails.

"Yes dad?" I questioned even though I had a feeling what I was about to get yelled at, either for punching Spencer or for Nikolaus and I being alone right now.

"Don't play innocent with me, I thought you two weren't allowed to be alone together?" he spoke while looking between us and it was in that moment I realised just how close we were sitting.

"You left us alone this morning" I snapped in response.

"Lord Ivashkov I was treating to her wounds and giving her a lecture on what happened with Mr Hasting" that was all Nikolaus said before standing up and leaving me alone with dad in the gym.

"Nothing happened between you and Anastas?" dad questioned as he walked over and sat down in front of me, I couldn't help but notice him looking at my hands, it was then I noticed that they really did hurt.

"No and nothing happened this morning, you shoving the two of us in a room and letting both of us admit we had feelings towards each other made it worse"

"I know this Dri, I didn't want the meetings to go the way they did" dad was still looking at my hands, it didn't matter if he had just come from most likely healing Spencer's face. He hated seeing people in pain and this was something he could heal.

"You didn't?" I questioned while holding my hands out for him, we came to an agreement long ago that he never asked to heal me, it was only if I offered.

Dad was silent as he grabbed my hands, I never really saw anything or felt anything when he healed me. It was more the pain disappeared all of a sudden, it never made sense to me but it was something I dealt with as it was something I grew up with. I had seen both dad and Lissa heal Rose or Dimitri on numerous occasions because they had been injured in a fight.

"No I didn't want the meeting to go that way but Antakov was all for it, even Petrov was a little hesitant to it" dad finally spoke when he was finished with my hands and I slowly unwrapped them.

"But then how come Lissa let it happen? Couldn't she have changed Antakov's mind?" It didn't matter if dad and I were passed whatever anger we had towards each other about the meeting, we hadn't spoken about it.

"Lissa and I agreed to stay quiet on it, we figured the less we argue the less amount of trouble you would be in. We had no idea what was going on, worst case scenario you were in a relationship with Anastas. We didn't want your future ruined because of it, we didn't want you to have to finish at a different academy after the hard work you've done to reach the top"

"I'm grateful, I don't know what I would have done if I had to move schools"

"What happened with Spencer Dri?" dad questioned and I was wondering when it was going to come back to this.

"Me punching him or what happened in the classroom?" I questioned, I knew there was no way out of this.

"Both I suppose"

"I had no idea what Damon, Josh and Eric had planned. Hell I'm surprised that Eric was involved but as for punching Spencer, I did. I knew I shouldn't have but the stuff he was saying, he was practically yelling in the hallway that Nikolaus and I were having sex and he was waiting for the moment to catch us, I couldn't help it, I lost it dad and instead of punching him over and over I came here. It's where Nikolaus found me, punching the bag"

"Alright" was all dad said, I just stared at him unsure of what was going to happen next but he never said anything.

"Alright? That's all you can say?" I spoke carefully.

"Yes, I believe you. I know we don't have the best relationship and we don't always get along but after everything that happened with Spencer and Anastas, I realised that I need to trust you more in hopes that you are telling the truth more. I trusted you enough when I sent you to Melbourne with Anastas, I guess finding out about the emails during Christmas break made me question everything"

I was silent at first, trying to process what dad said but he was right, we didn't exactly have the best relationship but it was better then what other novices had with their parents, I was lucky to even know who my Moroi parent was.

"It means a lot dad and I know I should stop with the lying and the eavesdropping and aside from the emails I don't lie about the big stuff"

"I know Dri and we are both adults, we should be able to have rational conversations about things instead of the usual screaming matches we have"

What dad just said made me wonder if I would be able to ask him his opinion of Nikolaus and if he thought us pursuing a relationship after I graduate would cause some raised eyebrows or even whispers.

"Does that mean we can have a rational conversation about what could happen after I graduate?" I questioned and I watched as dad processed what I truly meant by my question.

"Dri…" dad warned me and I could tell he was getting angry.

"It's just a question, I'm honestly curious about what could happen if we did start dating after I graduated. It's not something we have spoken about I promise, it's just something I've been thinking of. You know how the Moroi system works better than I do, more specifically the royal Moroi."

"I know Dri and I'm not too sure, if it starts all of a sudden then yes people will question and wonder what could have happened and considering how close you are to Rose and Dimitri they will wonder if you are following in Rose's footsteps and then they will wonder if she is still good enough to protect our queen. It's all about timing Dri"

"I get it, it makes sense, thanks dad" I gave him a smile

"It isn't a problem, come on I think Petrov wants to speak to you anyway" I groaned in response but got up and followed dad anyway.

Two hours later I was finally back in my room, I was given two weeks suspension and the thing that made it even better was the weeks suspension that also included no classes. It meant I didn't have to deal with Spencer for a week, I couldn't believe how twisted he turned and how much he hated me now that we have broken up.

While I wasn't in classes I was dealing with the punishment that Nikolaus was forced to doll out, which didn't bother me since any time with him was a bonus and I was curious as to why Petrov made Nikolaus handle my punishment but I don't see the point in questioning it.

I looked up at the sound of my door opening and I spotted Damon's apologetic face, "don't even bother, I don't want to hear it" I laid back on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Oh come on, I wanted to apologize since we are going to be spending a week together, you, me and Josh" I finally looked up at him in shock, I didn't expect that.

"What do you mean spending a week together?"

"Josh and I are on suspension as well, the three of us are together" I guess it made sense as to why Petrov had no problems about getting Nikolaus and I to spend that much time together.

"Why did you have to do it?" I sat up on my bed and waited until he came and sat down next to me.

"Ever since the blood whore rumour you've kind of zoned out on the rumour mill but there is so much about you going around, some of which we've heard that Spencer has started and the way he had been treating you wasn't right. Eric shares some of his morning classes with him, the things he's told us, we couldn't sit back any longer and not do anything…" I turned away from him and at least now it made sense as to why Eric was helping the two of them.

Eric had overheard Spencer and his friends, Eric probably told Izzy and Izzy was all for Eric helping Damon and Josh. Izzy had this way about her, if you burnt her she would burn you back just as bad if not worse. You didn't want to be enemies with Izzy, you would worry for your life.

"We just wanted to scare him so he'll stop talking shit about you Dri, we don't want you to lose it again" Damon spoke and I rested my head against shoulder.

"I get it, I just hate that I almost got in trouble for it. Why couldn't you tell me what you had planned and how was Miss Bennett not in class?"

"Oh Izzy was distracting her down the hallway and you only got in trouble because you punched Spencer, speaking of which good job you should have seen Anastas' face once you did it, he was completely shocked" Damon laughed and I couldn't help but smile

"I think Spencer yelling that the two of us having sex didn't help with that"

"Most likely, you wouldn't have gotten in trouble, we would have said you had nothing to do with it. Josh, Eric and myself would have taken full responsibility had we been caught and we were, and we did"

"It's fine, we will be fine for the week. I wouldn't have stayed mad at the two of you forever"

"What about Eric?" Damon questioned and I was silent at first, I didn't know how to answer.

My friendship with the Moroi in our group was different, we were close but there were moments that I questioned whether or not they would still be around after graduation, there were moments that Izzy and Eric joked about requesting the four of us so we wouldn't lose each other and I hoped it was true but I won't know until graduation.

To be honest I probably would never have been mad at Eric, I was more confused as to why he jumped to my defence but Damon and Josh should have known better then to do something like that behind my back, they should have known I wanted in on it.


	32. Authors Note

I have no idea if anyone is still reading this story or not, or even interested in finding out what happens.

Long story short, I've had a lot of personal problems going on and a bit of writers block but my life has calmed down somewhat I'm willing to jump back in with the story because I do truly miss Dri since a part of her is truly me.

So if anyone is still interested in knowing what I had planned for the ending of this story please me let me know, as well as anything you would be interested in seeing and I will see what I can do.


	33. Chapter 32

**A/N: I can't guarantee regular posting but I am trying to get into the swing of right about Dri and the rest of them again so please bear with me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 32**

Adrianna POV

"Dri are you even listening to me?" I ignored the Greek accent and looked out the window. I heard him let out a sigh before he walked out of my room leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I had officially graduated from St Vladimir's now and the last few weeks had been an up and down rollercoaster of emotions, after everything that happened with Spencer, me punching him in the face and my friends almost setting him on fire everyone had been on high alert with me, wondering if I was going to snap again.

Everything had also seemed to settle down, it was almost like I was going to have a normal time for the end of my senior year, no stalker problems, no ex-boyfriend problems, no complicated guy problems…well no scratch that I did have that. Nikolaus and I were still having problems dealing with our feelings being out in the open but now that I've graduated it's something we can talk about.

I wasn't even surprised to learn that I had graduated the top of the senior novice class, it was something everyone had long to expect of me and because of this I was also expected to get the most prestigious placement but I just wanted someone I got along with and didn't have to worry about pretending to like them.

I stared at the closed door wishing Nikolaus would come back, I didn't mean to push him away like I did, hell I don't even know why he came in here to begin with.

It didn't take long for dad and Alberta to start being a bit more lenient on the rules surrounding the two of us being alone together, something about trusting us but we still had to be careful and let's just say the amount of self-control I have realised I have is incredibly high. There were so many moments all I had to do was close the inch gap between our faces and my lips would be pressed against his.

I shook away the thoughts and stood up to finish packing my stuff knowing tomorrow will be the last time I leave this place and anything left behind will be long forgotten.

When I woke up the following morning I quickly checked my emails seeing if there was anything from Court or even Zoya about her arrival but instead I had one from this B person who has been harassing me.

 _Adrianna, my pet._

 _You have finally graduated which means you are one step closer to being mine, won't be long now._

 _B_

I shuddered before forwarding the email to Rose, I have only received one more since the death of Bri's mother and Rose had requested me to always forward the emails to her in hopes of figuring out who was harassing/stalking me.

I knew Nikolaus would want to know about the emails, hell I told him after Christmas break but now, now everything is different and I don't know how, I don't even know if he feels the same.

I threw my phone in my bag and ignored the beeping coming from it and headed down to the tarmac to catch the plane back to Court, every single one of the passing senior novices or now Guardians will be going to Court by plane to receive their placements along with the graduating Moroi to receive their Guardians, if they get any.

I spotted my friends standing off to the side and quickly went and joined them after throwing my bags with the rest of them to be placed in the cargo storage.

"Dri can you believe we're graduating?" Bri squealed while Damon and Josh rolled their eyes, I couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"I know I can't believe how long it took us to get here and the only thing we have to worry about now is placements" I spoke trying to not let the disappointment seep through my voice.

We all knew there was a very high chance this will the last time we will all get to hang out again unless for some strange reason our Moroi all live at Court, we all grew up knowing what it will mean to be a Guardian, our lives come off second best to the Moroi in our society.

My friends all shared a look but didn't say anything, they were realising what I just had. My friends had been my rocks the past couple of months and I don't know how I will get through my future without them.

It wasn't until we were at Court that everything settled in for us all and by all I mean all the new Guardians not just me and my friends that we were here and our future was about to be set in stone. The stone cold silence settled over the plane and no one was speaking, they were full of nerves, worried about how the next couple of days would play out for us.

We were all worried not just about the next couple of days, we were worried about futures. The lives and friends we had made over the last few years could break after these couple of days. Best friends could be spilt for years and the few sparse couples that formed will also be forced apart due to placements.

I was standing in what was going to be my apartment for the next few days while everything gets sorted, most of the dhampirs attending Court would be staying in the guest housing of the Guardians side of Court.

In fact I was surprised, I thought I would have still been staying with dad or even Rose and Dimitri. I thought they would have needed every last apartment for the incoming new Guardians, maybe I was in luck this year, maybe they had an extra room available or maybe it was the fact that I was sharing with Bri that allowed me my space from my family.

"You alright?" Bri's voice pulled me from my thoughts and I spun around to face her.

I didn't even know how to begin explaining what I was feeling to her, how to explain that I was feeling guilty for blowing Nik off last night, or explain how I was feeling after the final trials and it cementing my top position or that fact that my life is going to be forever changed.

"Just a little over whelmed is all, a lot has happened in the last couple of days."

"I know and we haven't had the chance to speak about it, where do you want to start? The trials, Anastas or how this is the moment you've been dreading since the beginning of high school."

I frowned at her comment, I didn't know what she meant by me dreading this. I worked so hard to become a Guardian, why would I be dreading this?

"Dri I know you, incredibly well. I also know how well you like having your space, you being forced to spend 24/7 with someone is going to drive you insane. You aren't dreading becoming a Guardian, just who you might be paired with."

I didn't respond, just turned back to the window and looked out it. I didn't want to talk about this, I didn't see the point. No Guardians, ever, got their choice in placement. Rose was lucky, Lissa was her best friend and requested her while Lissa and Christian did the right by keeping both her and Dimitri together by having Christian request Dimitri.

"Fine Dri how about we talk about your trials, where you fell off the bridge. You might have landed in a foam pit and not been badly injured but you took a long time getting back up, even the Guardian attacking you was worried, he just stood there."

Bri was right, I didn't dodge a punch properly on top of the bridge and it collided with my shoulder. I didn't expect such a force hitting me that I went over the edge, I honestly thought I was either dead or going to be badly injured from the fall.

The bridge was incredibly high, I didn't expect to come out of it injury free and when I landed I just laid there. I was afraid that if I moved I would then notice how pain I was in, at the time I wasn't feeling anything. I was panicking that everything I worked towards would be over and I would be struggling to do simple tasks and relying on my family.

Over time I slowly began moving my limbs again realising that I was in fact perfectly fine, at first I thought that maybe this was the hidden Spirit in me doing something but when I realised that I landed in a foam pit I knew I wouldn't have been injured at all.

"I panicked all right? I thought everything was over and I was going to be a vegetable. I know now I should have realised that the Guardians wouldn't have let anything happen to us or them but still, I ended up doing just fine and graduating on top. Why does it matter Bri?" I snapped at her.

"Fine if you don't want to talk I'm just going to find Damon and Josh to see what they have planned for the day," Bri spoke in response, I wondered if I had just pushed away my best friend but I had a feeling I wouldn't have.

Bri knew me incredibly well and knew that even if I should talk about the things that are happening in my life right now, I'm not exactly open to the idea of it but I knew I should at least start with Nik and find out why he wanted to talk last night.

I quickly rang Rose hoping she could tell me where Nik was staying, I figured I may as well suck it up and go and apologise for ignoring him the previous night. I was grateful when I found out that he was staying in the same building just the floor above, it meant there was a higher chance I could make it up there without being caught.

I knocked on his door and stood there anxiously waiting for him to answer, I was worried that he wasn't even in there and it was all a waste of time coming up here.

Just as I was about to give up and leave the door finally opened and revealed Nik standing there, I honestly forgot just how good he can look in plain clothes, away from his standard Guardian uniform. I had a feeling he had only just gotten out of the shower by the look of his wet hair sticking to his forehead.

"My turn to ignore you?" he questioned and I couldn't help but frown at his comment, I didn't mean to hurt his feelings last night.

"I'm sorry, I came to apologise Nik. Are you really going to keep me out here while we talk?" I hung my head and questioned him, I really worried that he would just slam the door in my face.

"Come on," he stepped aside and allowed me to enter his apartment.

I barely got two steps in before the door was shut and Nik had his arms wrapped around my waist, "I thought you were mad at me?" I spoke softly not even wanting to turn around and face him.

"I'm not mad, I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure you were fine after what happened during your trial, I wanted to make sure you were fine after your fall. Everyone was worried Dri." Nik softly kissed my neck and I couldn't help the shiver that ran through my body.

"I don't know why everyone keeps wanting to talk about the stupid bloody thing." I muttered while attempting to pull away from him but he just tightened his grip on my waist and spun me around to face him.

"Because you didn't move for a long time, we thought something had actually happened to you Dri. I was terrified at that thought." I couldn't believe the look on his face, he was hurt over the fact that I could have been hurt, did he still have feelings for me?

There was a part of me that was starting to think that he didn't feel the same anymore that he had gotten over me and moved on. That he realised that I wasn't worth the wait and I was just stupid school girl who did stupid shit.

"Why were you terrified?"

"Because I can't bear the thought of losing you Dri and I know everything could change in the next few days but at least you would still be alive, you being dead means I can never see you, touch you or kiss you again."

I melted at his comment, I couldn't believe he had said that and the fact that so much was shown on his face that I couldn't help when I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his hoping more than anything that he wouldn't pull away.

I was glad when he didn't, he instantly kissed me back, pulling me flush against his body while one of his hands gripped my hair.


	34. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Adrianna POV

Nik pulled away far too quickly for my liking and I couldn't help the whimper that escaped my lips but all Nik did was smile before cupping my face.

"As much as I would love to continue that we can't Dri, we need to talk about everything, just like I promised alright?" I nodded in response as Nik softly kissed my forehead.

I pulled away from him after that, I couldn't stand that close to him knowing there are no rules anymore preventing anything from happening but he just said we couldn't, we had to talk first.

"Dri us talking doesn't mean you had to walk away from me," I could hear Nik following me as I was walking towards the living room in hopes of sitting on the couch. I didn't even have to ask where I was going because most of the apartments were exactly the same.

"Dri please stop walking away from me," Nik had managed to catch up with me and he grabbed my wrist to spin me around and face him.

"It's too hard, standing there that close to you and knowing just how easily I could kiss you now that there are no rules in place preventing us from doing so."

"I know, believe me I know but I did promise you we would talk about this and what could happen. You were the one that first asked what would happen come the summer and our placements, it's now the summer and you are only a couple of days away from finding out your placement."

"What about you?"

"I have a meeting with Guardian Croft in a couple of days, I will find out then."

"Then in theory there is nothing we can do until then."

I didn't mean for my voice to sound as broken as it did and the look on Nik's face meant he had heard me and understood my hidden meaning behind what I just said.

"If you understand that us doing something could make it that much harder when one of us may have to leave, than no. If you understand that one of us may have to leave making whatever it is between us that much harder, than no you are wrong. We can do something, you just have to understand what could happen." Both hands had come up and been placed on my face forcing me to look at him.

"Why do we have to have this conversation, why couldn't we just skip the conversation?" I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, me stepping closer to him made him falter.

"Dri…"

"Why can't we just skip the conversation and do what we really want to do?" I whispered and I could see his breathing falter and something flashed in his eyes.

I had my body pressed against his and I knew he could resist temptation when needed but I just hoped with the two of us in his private room he wouldn't resist temptation, or me.

Nik's head lowered and his forehead rested against mine but before I could even think of doing anything there was a knock on the door, there was a small growl from him before he pulled away to answer it. I had a feeling that the small growl was of annoyance, which meant he was very close to succumbing to what I was suggesting.

He looked back at me and I couldn't help it, I grinned causing him to shake his head before opening the door revealing Rose.

"Oh good, I caught you before anything happened." Rose spoke, I had a feeling she knew what I had would have had in mind when asking her for where he was staying.

"Like he would let that happen," I couldn't help it, I grinned at both of them and Nik look absolutely mortified. I don't if it was because I was openly talking about what could eventually be our sex life or the fact that it was with Rose, someone who nearly every single Guardian highly respected.

"Either way Dri I need you to come with me." The smirk Rose just had on her face was instantly gone and I was worried, highly worried.

I looked over at Nik, but all he did was smile. "It's fine, we can finish our conversation later."

"I thought we already did."

"Just go."

"Come on Dri," I nodded and followed Rose out of the guest housing.

I couldn't say anything, I stayed quiet. I had no idea what was going and why she was requesting me to follow her, I didn't know how to question her on what was going on. For all I knew it could have been why I froze during my trials after the fall.

"Alright listen up," Rose spun around so quick I was stunned at first. "No matter what is said in there I want you to remember that both Dimitri and I are now technically your bosses, in front of the other Guardians you are meant to treat us with respect. Your issue with us, take it up once we have left that room."

"What's going on?" I questioned, Rose's statement made me wonder what was going to happen in that room and why I would be angry with Rose and Dimitri.

"There has been meetings regarding your placement and we finally decided that maybe you should be brought in on it."

"Why? Guardians never get a say in their placements Rose."

"I don't recall saying you were getting a say, now inside and be quiet." Rose snapped at me and I wonder what I said to annoy her that much.

I reluctantly followed Rose inside the room and I was shocked at who was present, I honestly just thought it would be Rose, Dimitri and Hans, Hans Croft who was in charge of all of the Guardians and was the one who was in charge of their placements.

I didn't expect Dad and Lissa to be in here as well and my entrance, well it sort of silenced them all instantly. When Rose opened the door they seemed to be arguing about something but when they noticed me they all stopped.

"Hathaway I thought we agreed that we wouldn't be bringing her in on this," Hans stood up and narrowed his eyes at Rose, I had to try so hard to supress the giggle that wanted to come through when he flashed me a smile.

Hans had always been there while I grew up, he was the one that distracted me during meetings when Rose and Dimitri were babysitting and they had to drag me along, he was another one that was more than willing to train with me when I was old enough. I believe Hans was the only one that wasn't a family member that knew the truth about me, I don't think Alberta even knew, she just trusted Rose and Dimitri.

"No Hans I believe that was you, I was all for having Dri here. This is her future." Rose replied as she walked over took a seat at the table, I have a feeling this is the part where I am meant to sit down and shut the hell up.

"Yes but just because she is _special_ doesn't mean she gets a say in her future, she will be like every other Guardian where both the Queen and myself will decide on her placement," Spoke Hans

"But you aren't listening to what we are saying Hans, Dri was the number one ranked dhampir. We need to put her where she is most needed," spoke Lissa. I seriously hope this wouldn't end badly on me.

"Is it really safe for her to be placed with high ranking Moroi though, putting the two of them together will draw too much attention though Lis," Rose looked a little shocked, almost like she missed something while getting me.

"That's not what I'm getting at Rose, it won't be a high ranking Moroi. It will be a Moroi we need to keep protected as much as Dri…" No Lissa couldn't mean…

"You mean a Spirit user? You want the two of us together so you can watch over both of us, preferably behind these wards."

"Dri!" Rose warned me but I ignored her and looked at Lissa and dad.

"No Rose, Dri is right. We do want her with a Spirit user."

"But dad I only know of one Spirit user that's graduated…"

"You're kidding right? You want to shove her back in a room with her ex-boyfriend, are you insane Adrian?" Dimitri spoke and I absolutely agreed with him, there was no way I would willingly let myself be subjected to Spencer for the rest of my life.

"Dad you are kidding right, there is no way I will want to be paired with him after what happened. He's convinced the two of us were screwing behind his back!" I had no idea if Hans knew what happened between Nik and I, but I just everyone else knew what I was referring to 'the two of us'.

"Dri I thought I told you to be quiet," Rose hissed me but I continued to ignore her.

"What am I missing here?" Hans spoke and it was obvious he wasn't told of what happened months ago between Nik and myself.

"It was revealed that Dri and Anastas had developed feelings between each other but it was brought to the light of day before anything could have happened, we believe nothing has happened between the two of them since." Dad spoke causing Rose and I instantly share a look, I knew better by now to not say anything about that.

"Dri you really do spend too much time with Rose and Dimitri but if there is that much of an issue with pairing Dri with Spencer Hasting why do we have to? Why risk both of their safeties when it's obvious that both of them are essential to our kind and future. I've seen his Guardian picks and they are perfectly suitable to look after him."

"Then who is left Hans? We've all agreed that Dri is better suited to protecting a Spirit user, we believe that it will be the best match for her." Lissa spoke and I was curious as well, more curious as to why I got to be in on this decision.

"Hasn't Adrian said something about a Spirit user spending the summer here to learn from both of you, Queen?" Hans spoke and I was confused, no one had mentioned this to me, especially dad.

"Yes I do have a Spirit user spending the summer with my family but he's still technically a student, come the new term he will only be a senior." Once dad finished speaking it took me a while to remember who he was talking about, but when I did I was shocked. It was that new kid, the one that could read memories.

"Then we'll put her in on the Courts roster for 12 months, I know both of you have wanted the chance to start working on her blood and trying to find out what is so special about her. Wouldn't it be easier with having her here, wouldn't this be the best thing for her?"

"Wait, hold up. Let me get this straight, you want to put me on the back burner for some junior in hopes that he will want me come his graduation in 12 months' time while I spend that time here being studied like a lab rat?" I stared at them all.

"Dri it won't be like that and you know it, we haven't decided what tests we want to run because we didn't know if we would get the chance after your graduation. We didn't know what was going to happen with your placement but if James does want you as his Guardian then yes we will begin researching in hopes of helping you work out your own future." Dad spoke and I turned my gaze from them all.

It was true, we were all terrified about how different I really was because of the Spirit in me. We haven't even heard any rumours about possibilities about me, it was just speculation about how my life has played out so far and so far there was nothing apart from some creepy guy behind the emails.

"If we all agree, we go ahead with this plan and Adrian can speak to Mr Lazar?" Hans spoke and it wasn't long after that everyone agreed, I knew I couldn't even voice my opinion because I didn't get one and the fact that I was here just proved how powerful my family was.

 **A/N: First off I want to thank every one of you who left a review on my author's note two chapters back. I've only just seen all of them now, for some reason whenever I clicked on the link fanfiction wouldn't show me the reviews and it just confused me. I'm glad so many of you are still curious as to what I have for the future of this story.**

 **For those of you that have read My Best Mistake and are thinking that this is going to be the same because she's paired with James again, it won't be. There are actually a few things I want to do with the pairing but couldn't because of where the story went instead so bear with me.**

 **brookletp** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are happy that Dri and Nik finally got to kiss without consequences as for their placements well, Dri's has been revealed and Nik's will be revealed shortly.**

 **DhampirWriter101** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are eager for more chapters. As for extra ones this week I will have to see what happens, I hope you have an amazing birthday either way!**


	35. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Adrianna POV

"Are you alright?" Nik's voice broke through breaking me from my thoughts, I looked over at him and gave him a small smile.

"Just the meeting, it all happened so fast and I need to talk to dad first."

"Are you going to tell me what happened during the meeting?" I smirked at him, I knew he wanted to know but there was no way I could tell him. I didn't want him going into his meeting with Hans knowing what was happening with me, it would be too hard on him.

"Not until you've had yours. Come on, come home with me for dinner." I flashed him an innocent looking smile and I could see the worry on his face.

It was tradition that the first night we were all home for the summer we had a huge family dinner where Lissa, Christian and the twins came over as well as Rose and Dimitri. There had been a few years where Jill and Eddie were in town and they had joined us but it was rare.

"I'm not having dinner with your family Dri, both Hathaway and Belikov want my head."

"No they don't, you sure Rose earlier."

"Fine, Belikov wants my head." Nik grumbled and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Please, you said yourself this morning that we can do something if I understand the consequences regarding one of us having to leave at some stage."

"I didn't mean for me to have dinner with your family though."

"Please Nik?" I pouted at him and I could slowly see him slipping.

I had learnt over the last couple of weeks how it was best to soften him up and I used it to nearly every one of my advantages, dad had actually started to laugh at how easily I could get Nik to succumb to my wants and I was grateful for that because it meant dad was actually accepting of Nik. Although the couple of times I regrettably tried to soften him up in public, I was punished, severely.

"Alright fine, anything to see you smile." He smiled at me and I couldn't help it when a huge smile appeared on my face and I threw my arms around his neck causing him to laugh at my actions.

"You won't regret this."

"Oh I probably will." Nik muttered but I just laughed at him before leading him towards my childhood home.

The closer we were getting towards the house the more irritable Nik was getting and I had a feeling I was going to regret asking him of this, I knew we wouldn't have a problem with my family when it came to us having some sort of a relationship because they knew what happened when I was a student and they trusted us when we said nothing had happened between the two of us and right now we were still safe with that stupid drunken kiss.

We made it to the house and I snuck a look at Nik, I could tell he was worried, his mask was up having no idea what was going to happen once we set foot in the house.

"It will be fine, I promise." I squeezed his hand before opening the door.

I barely got three steps inside before I heard a squeal and saw a flash of brown hair tackling me, if it wasn't for Nik standing behind me I probably would have been tackled to the ground but he managed to steady the both of us.

"I'm going to kill Dimka," the accent and use of the nickname Dimka meant only one thing, it was Zoya who had tackled me.

"Zoya!" I squealed and felt Nik remove his hands from my waist and it wasn't only seconds later a hand went over my mouth.

"No need to yell Dri," I looked up at him and shrugged, he removed his hand.

I could see Zoya eye the unfamiliar person and if it wasn't for the fact that I was standing here with him or that he called me Dri I had a feeling this would play out very differently.

"Who is this Dri?" she grinned at me. "I would ask if it's Spencer but I swear you said he was a Moroi."

I looked at Nik at the mention of Spencer's name and I hated seeing the anger in his eyes and his whole body tensed up, I completely forgot to tell Zoya that Spencer and I broke up.

"No Zoya, it's differently not Spencer. Spencer and I broke up but that is a story for a different time, I promise."

"Nope I believe that time is now," Zoya grabbed my arm and linked it through hers forcing me to follow her, I looked at Nik over his shoulder and mouthed sorry.

I knew he would be annoyed that I was practically throwing him to the wolves being my family but I didn't know Zoya was going to be here for dinner, although it doesn't surprise me since she is family as well and I knew she was at Court.

But when we entered the kitchen I stopped dead at the sight, "Olena?" I whispered not really believing that she was standing in the kitchen helping Ellie with dinner.

Olena slowly turned around and faced me, I had a feeling Nik had followed Zoya and I silently into the kitchen by the confused look crossing her face but then she looked at me and smiled.

"My you've grown into such a beautiful young lady Dri," I didn't say anything as I walked over and placed my arms around her neck.

It had been way too long since I last saw Olena, I can't even remember maybe I was 10 or 11? But I saw Zoya not long ago, her freshman class of novices had come to Court like all of them do to learn about Court although most of it could be done in a classroom but the Guardians believed it was better for us to see Court before coming in after graduation for the first time.

"I know Dri, it's been so long. Family should never go this long without seeing each other." I could feel her softly kiss my head and softly rub my back.

Rose had mentioned something about Olena coming out for the summer but I didn't think it would happen, it must have been forced to the back of my mind and I didn't mean to get this emotional.

"Family?" Nik spoke sounding shocked, I reluctantly pulled away from Olena and looked at him. I had no idea how to begin explaining how Dimitri and I were related, I knew how we were related but the actual topic surrounding how we were related wasn't allowed.

"Olena Belikov and this is my granddaughter Zoya Belikov," Olena gave Nik a smile while she held out her hand introducing both her and Zoya letting Nik know how we're all related.

"Nikolaus Anastas," Nik replied shaking her hand before turning to me, I knew the look he was giving me. It was a 'we need to talk' look.

"That's right, you're the mentor."

"Wait that's him!" Zoya responded causing Olena to give her a look, I wasn't surprised that Olena knew what happened since Rose and Dimitri visited not long after everything came out but I was shocked that Zoya knew about it.

"Don't be rude Zoya, now you boy what do you have to say for yourself." Olena spoke while narrowing her eyes at Nik, I walked over and stood beside him hoping to give him some comfort.

"Mama don't start on this, now isn't the time." I heard Dimitri's voice before I saw him, both him and Rose walked over pulling Olena's attention from Nik and myself.

"You owe me," Nik growled in my ear and I couldn't help but grin at him.

I honestly had no idea that Olena and Zoya would be here otherwise I wouldn't have forced him to come to this dinner because I have no idea how Olena would react to the knowledge of Nik and what happened between the two of us.

Rose came over and gave me a hug as a greeting before whispering in my ear, "maybe now would be the best time for you and Anastas to sneak outside." I nodded at Rose before grabbing Nik's hand and leading him outside.

"Dri…" Nik growled at me as soon as we were outside, I turned and faced him noting that he didn't look happy at all.

"I didn't know they were going to be here honest, well actually I knew Zoya was going to be at Court since she has graduated as well but Olena I promise I had no idea she was going to be here. Hell I didn't even know that they knew…" Nik cut off my ramblings by placing a hand over my mouth causing me to frown at him.

"Stop Dri please stop rambling," I nodded and his hand moved from my mouth to my cheek. "It's fine, I understand you couldn't have known they were visiting. I'm not mad, I promise. I admit I was shocked and taken aback by Olena talking to me like that. But how come you never told me that you and Belikov were related?"

I frowned at him, I honestly didn't know how to respond to that question since I didn't even know the whole truth.

"Because she doesn't know the whole story Anastas," Dimitri's voice shocked both of us and Nik's hand instantly fell from my face and I missed the heat coming from it and I was glad to see a smile on Olena's face this time.

"Dimitri you don't have to do this," I tried to reason with him but he just shook his head while Olena patted his shoulder.

"Adrian's uncle is my father, in fact he is the father to all of my siblings. I know it's unusual but it's the way it is, he didn't treat my mother very well and he was in the picture until I was 13 and I was able to fight back."

I stared at Dimitri, I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe that Olena was abused by him, it shocked me considering how happy she seemed to be now but I guess she was surrounded by family and who wouldn't be happy by that.

"Belikov I appreciate you having told me that but you must know you didn't have too, I would have just appreciated being told you were both related."

"From what I just witnessed between the two of you I believe you will be sticking around long enough to be a part of the family, this family doesn't keep secrets for various reasons. It was nice to meet you Nikolaus," Olena smiled at us before leaving and heading inside, I turned and looked at Nik shocked by Olena's comment but all Nik did was look at me and I was surprised by the amount of affection being shown on his face and I was glad he was opening up in front of my family.

"My mother is right, if you want to be a part of Dri's life it means being a part of this family. There are no secrets so if at any stage you decide to make a relationship work we need to know so we can help with the blow that is inadvertently coming your way. We all love Dri and want to protect her." I was shocked by this lecture, I honestly thought Dimitri would have threatened Nik, not said something like this.

"That being said Anastas if you do hurt her, you will deal with the consequences of your actions." There was Dimitri's threat and it didn't all shock me in fact I'm surprised that Rose wasn't out here as well.

"Of course I understand and if something does happen between Dri and myself please call me Nik."

"And call me Dimitri, don't spend too long out here I'm sure dinner will be ready soon enough." It was then that Dimitri went back inside leaving the two of us alone.

"What do you think they saw?" I questioned once we were alone.

"Who knows but I think I just got permission from your family." Nik smiled at me while tracing his thumb along my jawline.

"You would have got permission eventually, I think they just needed to warm up from the idea of what happened when I was your student." I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Dri…"

"What you just said yourself you've now got permission from my family." I smiled at him before standing up on my toes and softly pressing my lips against his.

"Dri!" Zoya yelled causing the two of us to pull apart, I turned and faced her with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry but we need to talk."

"Why? I believe dinner will be ready shortly." She narrowed her eyes at me and I grinned, I knew what this was and why she wanted to talk but I wanted to mess with her. She was just as bad as I was at communicating in the last year.

"What I'm not allowed to want to catch up with my favourite cousin?" she pouted at me and I laughed.

"Oh I didn't realise that Katya was visiting as well," I grinned at her

"Oh you don't want to start this with me."

"You always lose Zoya, come on even in the gym I was always better than you," her smirk faltered at hearing the truth.

"But didn't I hear that you froze during your final trials?" I glared at Zoya as I pulled away from Nik and headed inside not wanting this conversation anymore.

"Dri…" I heard Nik's voice but I just ignored him heading inside hoping more than anything that dinner would be ready.

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading, setting alerts for my story and those of you that have been reviewing.**


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Bri POV

When I left Dri alone in our apartment this morning I was worried, I could tell something was bothering her and I could only make a guess as to what was bothering her and when I brought up all those options she lost it and almost bit my head off.

The only thing I could do was give her the silence and peace she obviously wanted, so I did. It was obvious she wasn't willing to talk to me just yet, so instead I left and went looking for Damon and Josh hoping they had something fun to do for the day so I could pull my thoughts from Dri, it worked until we returned.

Damon and Josh had the idea of coming back to the apartment with me in hopes of seeing Dri and the four of us spending the night together before everything starts changing because tomorrow, it all begins. The first lot of meetings happen, the one with Moroi so they can make their picks of Guardians.

"Where's Dri?" Damon questioned when we entered and noticed it was too silent for her to be here.

"Obviously not here Damon," I snapped back.

"No need to snap at me because you and your girlfriend are fighting." Damon joked but all I did was walk over and punch him in the arm, I would have gone for the face but old habits die hard I guess.

"Don't make jokes Damon, you honestly can't tell me that you aren't worried about her as well. So much has happened in the last couple of days, remember what happened the last time Dri pushed us all away." My last comment caused both of the boys to frown, we were all worried when Dri spiralled out of control.

Dri is like a sister to me and when I saw her unconscious in the hospital like she was, my heart broke at the sight of her. For weeks leading up to that moment I could see her breaking a little more each and every day but no matter how hard I tried to get her to open up to me or even Damon or someone it wouldn't work, she just pushed me further away.

I'm just hoping her reaction this morning won't be another point leading up to her eventual break down, I'm worried that it might be more than her body could take and we might lose her and I couldn't have that.

It didn't matter if after the next couple of days I may not see her for a long time, as long as I know she is perfectly safe wherever she is and she is healthy that's all I want because I know phones were invented for a reason.

"Hey Bri, don't cry." Damon wrapped his arms around me as my eyes welled up and I leaned against him. "We have no idea if Dri is going to spiral this time, for all know she just needs to process and she may come to us again at some point. We just need to let her know that we are here for her."

"Damon's right and Dri has to know that we are always going to be here for her, but something tells me there's something going on with Anastas. I believe that meeting where her feelings toward him were questioned didn't just involve her, remember she was questioning what Spencer saw and next thing we know she's in the headmistress' office because of something Spencer said and then Dri's sessions with Anastas are being watched by Lord Ivashkov. Bri there is something we haven't been told." I wasn't looking at Josh but I was shocked that he had worked it out, normally the boys don't pay attention to things like that or they don't care but this, they must have seen things or spoken about it behind our backs.

"What you think those two have been having sex all along like Spencer believed?" I scoffed in response and it caused the two of them to laugh.

"As much as I love being right, no Bri. Both Josh and I believe that feelings did develop between the two of them and they came to the light of day in that meeting, I have a feeling that those two are trying to work out what can happen between the two of them and honestly for Dri I think that needs to be sorted out first."

All I did was nod in response, Damon was right even though I have no idea how they worked it out. I knew if I was in a similar situation to Dri then I would want to find out if anything was possible with the guy I had fallen for, especially if he felt something back towards me.

"Dri will come home eventually and then hopefully after that she will willingly talk to us or she is at least talking to someone else." Josh spoke and I nodded again in response before pulling away from Damon and heading towards the kitchen looking for some food.

I was sitting in the lounge room with both Damon and Josh watching T.V when I heard the front door to the apartment open and slam shut followed by Dri's voice, "just drop it and leave me alone. When are you going to get it through your head that I don't see the point in talking about that?"

We never heard a response but Dri did enter the lounge room and looked shocked at all of us sitting there staring at her trying to work out what happened.

"Dri please…" Anastas spoke as he entered the living room and also stopped at the sight of us sitting on the couch.

"What's going on here?" Damon spoke and when I looked at him he had a massive grin on his face.

"I should be going anyway, Dri please think about what I said?" Anastas spoke looking at Dri before looking at us all and it was then I noticed something I've never seen before on his face, worry and I don't know if it was about Dri or the fact that we were all sitting in here.

Dri nodded at Anastas before he turned and left, Dri came over and sat beside us on the couch.

"What was that Dri?" I questioned hoping she would finally talk to us about what was going on in her head. She was silent at first and no one said anything, we just turned back to the T.V to continue watching our movie.

"Everyone keeps wanting to talk about me freezing during the trials." I watched as Dri took a deep breath and closed her eyes before resting her head back on the couch, this was all a good sign and I hoped it continued.

"What did happen during your trial Dri? You know you've going to have to talk about it at some stage."

"I know Damon, it's just hard because during the fall I actually thought I was going to be badly hurt or worse, dead, but then when I landed I was panicking. I couldn't feel anything to begin with and I was worried that I was alive but I wouldn't have any bit of the life I wanted, I honestly thought it was all over before it began." Dri's voice broke at the end of it and my heart broke with hers, I didn't realise she thought and I hated she thought her life was over because of one mistake.

I wrapped my arm around her and she leaned into me, "Your life isn't over, even if your placement isn't what you want we aren't slaves Dri, we get a life of our own and holidays to match. We have the chance at a future we want, you can the future you want even if it includes having Anastas in it."

I spoke my last sentence carefully, she may have been opening up but me throwing something out about Anastas in front of the boys may push her away.

"Dri we just assume something is happening, it was obvious that a piece of information was being kept from us after your meeting thanks to Spencer." I felt Dri relax in my arms at Damon's comment and I was grateful that the boys said something.

"You three honestly don't care that I fell for a teacher and he fell for me back?"

"Why would we? We're Guardians now and we don't get a say in our life or how it plays out, so why would we have a problem with something that will essentially make you happy if it works out?" Josh was the one that spoke first and I was shocked, I didn't think he was thinking along those lines even though he was right.

I knew all I did want was for all of us to be happy with the future we had no choice in and if that was for Dri to have a potentially controversial relationship with her mentor during the final two years of our schooling then I won't say anything against, hell I didn't even have a problem with it when Dri was trying to work out her feelings towards I always thought he would be good for her.

"But the fallout is going to be bad, everyone is going to be like Spencer, they are going to assume things happened while I was his student and considering how close I am with Rose and Dimitri."

"Dri as long as your friends and family don't care about the relationship between you and Anastas or how it started, why should you care what strangers think?" Dri pulled away from me once I finished speaking, I didn't know if she was going to storm off or hear us out.

"But what if it bothers him?" Dri's eyes welled and I hated seeing her like this.

I leaned over and cupped her face forcing her to look at me, "you won't know unless you talk to him about it. It's obvious he cares about you, he wouldn't have followed you back here if he didn't. Dri talk to him, work out what you both want from whatever is currently between you and go from there. Guardians have made relationships work even if they aren't placed near each other because Rose and Dimitri proved that love isn't a weakness for our kind."

Dri nodded in response and pulled away before getting up and leaving me alone with the boys, I just hoped she took in my advice and spoke to Anastas to find out what he wanted. I didn't want Dri to push away a chance at love because she was afraid of what could happen.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, it means a lot to me.**

 **jpitt thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying it and the way it is going.**

 **brookletp thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for Nik's assignment, just wait see what I have planned for him, Dri and a possible future I have between the two of them.**


	37. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Adrianna POV

It felt all too familiar when I felt a presence sit down beside me, I honestly don't know how Nik found me sitting outside like this. It's not like I'm being forced to stay in my apartment like I was my dorm.

"How did you find me out here?" I wasn't even sitting near the guest housing, I was near home. There was a court yard nearby that had a pond, water feature and it was filled with flowers.

"I wasn't sleeping and I just happened to see you walking past my window, I followed you down here. Are you alright?" I looked over at him.

I was trying to consider what Bri said to me earlier, I knew Damon and Josh thought similar since it was something I once believed before I fell for Nik. We all hoped that aside from most of our future being pulled from our own choice we did we could find love and be success at keeping it despite our ever changing lives.

"I talked with Bri, Damon and Josh after you left earlier and I'm trying to process what they said is all." I leaned against him and he shifted to put his arm around me.

"Did you at least talk to them about what happened during your trial?" I didn't say anything at first, I didn't want to hurt his feelings by keeping this from him.

I eventually nodded and Nik shifted me so I was facing him, "don't ever worry about what you have to say, I know you didn't respond straight away because you didn't want to hurt my feelings. Dri I get us being out here and away from the academy and the roles that prevented us from having a relationship, we both need to learn how to make this work. We both need to adjust the way we've looked at this."

"I'm just so used to fighting you and pushing you away so things didn't become worse for us, it's hard to start letting you in."

"I know Dri, we've both need to learn and at least after tomorrow we have some idea as to what is in our future but please don't ever think I won't be here for you or don't want you in my future." Nik softly stroked my cheek as I nodded.

"Good, now are you going to get some sleep?"

"Nope, it's so warm out here and you can't force me back inside." I grinned at him

"I could pick you up and throw you over my shoulder," he smirked at me and I laughed.

"You wouldn't because if you do care about me at all you want me to be happy and right now I want to sit out here enjoying the sun."

"You're right, I would love nothing more than to make you happy but I also want to make myself happy and I know how that could happen." I didn't like the look he was giving me, it became even worse when he stood up.

The next thing I knew was I was being picked up and thrown over his shoulder and we were heading back towards the guest housing.

Nikolaus POV

"Were you really going to sneak out on me?" I turned at the sound of Dri's voice, I honestly thought she was still asleep and I had successfully managed to get ready without waking her up.

I frowned at her before walking over and leaning over to softly kiss her, "never, I was going to wake you up before I had to leave. I know you don't have to be up this early."

After I carried her back to my apartment and placed her on her bed there was a look of panic on her face and I froze, I had never seen her look that panicked because of something I did but I pieced together what I said and my action of putting her on my bed.

"Hey I wasn't expecting anything from you, I'm just as happy if we go to sleep. I just wanted you here." I placed my hands on either side of her on the bed and leaned in close to kiss and when I pulled away there was a smirk on her face.

"And if I don't want to be here?"

"Then you can leave but if you leave this time, next time I won't let you leave without a fight." I grinned at her and I couldn't believe the pull in my heart at the soft laugh that came from her.

"Can I borrow a shirt?" she spoke so softly I almost didn't hear her and she looked a little embarrassed and I was honestly confused.

"Why?"

"Because I can't sleep in these shorts and top," I smiled at her before walking over and pulling a shirt out of the draw and handing it to her.

"Nik?" Dri's voice pulled me back from last night's memories and I smiled at the sight of her laying there in my bed, in my shirt and I had to push away the thoughts I was having, especially after seeing how panicked she looked at the thought that I wanted sex from her.

"Sorry, are you going back to sleep or do you want some breakfast?"

"Mmm sleep," Dri muttered and it was then I released she was already almost asleep, I shook my head before softly kissing hers and heading into the kitchen to make a start on breakfast before my meeting with Croft this morning.

I didn't know how my meeting with Croft was going to go, I knew Petrov would have been asked to write a full report on everything that occurred during my three years at St Vladimir's and as much as I know I did the right thing by her by doing everything she requested of me. I had no idea if she would have included what happened with Dri or not and therefore I had no idea if Croft now knew about it, I was worried it would affect my placement, put me further away from Dri.

I still haven't told Dri about my actions regarding the incident that caused me to be placed at St Vladimir's and I hate that I am keeping that secret from her, I also knew I had to tell her before she found out from someone else. I have no idea how she would feel if she knew what really happened and I was dreading seeing her reaction in case it changed the way she viewed me.

"Now I have read over the report Guardian Petrov has sent over and it goes into great detail about how much of a valuable Guardian you were at St Vladimir's and she feels it was a great loss that you no longer work there as one of hers, she speaks very highly of you Guardian Anastas." Croft spoke and I was a little shocked, I didn't expect those things from Petrov.

"I didn't realise she did appreciate the work I did under her leadership,"

"Yes well it's all in here in the report as well as everything you did to try and protect the students, as well as teach them to better improve themselves before they were placed into the world." Croft patted a small stake of papers and it took me a moment to realise that's the report about me.

"I highly appreciate those kind words from her."

"As you should, now all of this aside. How did you enjoy being at the academy?"

I was silent trying to find the right words to word how I felt being at the academy, "can I speak freely?"

"Of course, it won't affect my decision." He replied and I took a deep breath.

"I preferred being placed at the academy instead of being with a Moroi, I understand I was placed there as a form of punishment I do and the same as three years ago I don't regret my actions. I was given that bit more freedom being at St Vladimir's, I was allowed to socialize with other Guardians. I was able to teach the next generation of Guardians but most of all, I was allowed the freedom of different job aspects of being a Guardian. I understand how important all our roles are, whether it's teaching the next generation of Guardians, preforming border patrols, protecting certain Moroi whether it is escorting them to and from places and even the Guardians who sit in our offices and do the paperwork that is required to make sure we are all running as smoothly as possible."

"You would be surprised to know that there are a lot more Guardians who prefer being placed at our academies instead of with a single Moroi, your actions made me think you were going to be one of those Guardians."

"I'm that predictable?"

"No, I wouldn't say predictable. The small number of times I have met with you, you've always had this anger about you in regards to what happened with your brother and even more so after what happened with the Moroi but it seems to have disappeared slightly after being at the academy. It's a good thing Anastas, it's allowed you to remember what it means to be a Guardian. Now we aren't quite ready to place you back with a Moroi, we believe it may be too early after everything that's happened but Petrov's report has put you in a very high regard of hers which isn't easy to do so we are giving you the option. You can go back to St Vladimir's or anyone of our other academies, or you can stay here at Court. Everything you've said about being at St Vladimir's I can make happen for you here, if it's what you wish. I can give you the wide range of duties if it's what you want."

I was shocked, I honestly didn't expect to be given the option, hell I assumed I was being forced back on a Moroi even though it was something I didn't want. Croft was right when he said I was angry after everything that's happened and I was, I still am in fact.

But the option of choosing my future is rare for a Guardian, most don't get a say and I didn't want to ruin that option but I knew just how much easier my future would be if I was at Court. I knew I enjoyed the small amounts of teaching I did at St Vladimir's but I also knew of the small number of students that stayed at Court and had classes at Court.

Croft was right in saying that the job opportunities were endless, I would be able to just have border patrols, or even shift work. I knew there were regularly Moroi going to and from the local airports when they couldn't use the private one at Court, everything was better option at Court and there would be so much more freedom at Court then at an academy. But I couldn't help but think of Dri in all of this.

I knew Dri had a meeting about her future yesterday, I had no idea if she had a say in her future but she knew what her future entailed and it's why she refused to tell me the outcome. She didn't want her future to influence the choice of my own and I knew it would have, but did she know I was getting this option?

"Court, I would like to stay at Court in you will have me that is."

"I had a feeling Guardian Ivashkov's placement would affect your choice, in all honestly I thought you would choose to stay at St Vladimir's if it wasn't for her."

"I'm sorry?" I had no idea what he meant by Dri's placement.

"I know about what happened between you and Ivashkov, don't worry it wasn't in Petrov's report. It came out yesterday during a meeting about Ivashkov's future as a Guardian. Did she not tell you what her placement was?"

"No, she refused to tell me, she said she didn't want her placement to affect mine. I honestly had no idea that she was being placed at Court but can I ask you why? She is an incredibly Guardian and I believe her talent is wasted here at Court." It was true, I thought Dri was an incredible Guardian and her being at Court was a waste.

"It's not a permanent placement, if she didn't tell you maybe you should speak to her. There is a lot more to it, is there anything else you would wish to talk about?"

"No of course not, when do I start?"

"For now you aren't needed, we've had the shift rotations worked out for a couple of months now. It's something we need to do before the new Guardians arrive, I'm sure it will be a week or two at the most before you will be placed in the rosters. That being said I will spread the word and let the other Guardians know you are available to cover shifts so enjoy your potential time off Anastas."

"Very well, thank you." I nodded at him before standing up with the idea of leaving his office.

"Oh and Anastas?" I looked over my shoulder at him, "Welcome to the team." He gave me a genuine smile and I nodded at him before heading back to my dorm with the idea of talking to Dri.


	38. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Adrianna POV

I was half asleep still curled up in Nik's bed when I felt a dip in the bed behind me and it wasn't long after that I felt arms come around my waist and pull me flush against a warm body. If it wasn't for the fact that I recognised the familiar scent that I have always associated with Nik I would have panicked, I twisted in his arms and buried my face against his chest.

"I'm surprised you're still in bed," Nik spoke after kissing my head and I looked up at him.

"I'm not allowed to live up on the fact that I don't have to get up early in the morning?"

"What about training? Are you going to let it slip now that you're at Court?" I frowned at him and pulled away.

"If you're honestly going to think I'm going to let my training slip then you don't know me at all," I snapped at him and went to get off the bed but Nik grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"Dri, that's not what I meant. Are you annoyed that you're placed at Court, it's usually only low ranking Guardians placed at Court or behind warded properties."

"How do you even know what my placement is?"

"Croft said he assumed you had told me what yours was and it affected the choice I made about my own."

"Did he happen to tell you all of mine?"

"No he said to talk to you…"

"Exactly talk to me, don't assume anything. They want to place me with a Spirit user Nik, but everyone believes I would be better off not being placed with Spencer."

"Then who Dri?"

"The new kid that said nothing is happening between us in that meeting, the same one who may or may not know about that kiss. He graduates next year, they want me at Court in hopes of trying to figure out what is special about me and in the meantime I will be on the Courts rosters."

"Does he even want you? We all know Moroi, especially royal Moroi get to choose their Guardians."

"I'm not sure, dad was going to speak to him when he arrives for the summer. Until then I have to go along with the rest of the activities required of the new Guardians."

"Why do you not seem happy about this?"

"Because you said you had a choice, I know how happy you were being at St Vladimir's. There is a part of me that believes you chose to go back there." I lowered my gaze from his and pressed my face into his chest, hopefully with him being at an academy and I at Court we could still see each other regularly.

Nik shifted himself on the bed so he was looking at me and when I tried to look away from him he just placed his hand on my cheek, "look at me Dri." As much as I wanted to close my eyes and not watch him as he confirms what I already believe, I couldn't ignore the demand he gave me, it was too familiar to follow his demands.

"Yes I was given the option of where my placement would be, whether it be an academy or here at Court. Dri I chose Court, that's why Croft believed your placement would affect mine. He thought I chose Court because of you, not because I believed I would be happier here."

"Wait, you're staying?" I was shocked, I couldn't be happy because I couldn't believe he chose to stay here. He had friends at St Vladimir's.

"Yes Dri, I'm staying at Court. I've got no idea how long for but at least for the next year, I'm staying. I will be here with you and we can have a proper relationship."

I didn't say anything in response, I don't think Nik expected me too. Instead I leaned forward and kissed him, there was no way I could get sick of the idea that I can kiss him whenever the hell I pleased now, kissing Nik is amazing.

It's like my body heats up but yet every worry I have is instantly gone in the action, it's like Bri said all those months ago. Nik calms me, I originally thought it would just be my actions but I was wrong, it's also my thoughts.

I hooked my leg over his waist and gripped his hair while his hand gripped my waist, if my past was any indication of where this was going then I thought it was leading to sex.

I might have panicked last night and I know I was stupid for thinking what I did, but there was a part of me that thought maybe Nik was going to demand sex from me. What he said and he's actions just freaked me out, I was glad he was so understanding about everything.

Whereas now, knowing exactly what our future together entails then I have no issues taking this step with him even though we haven't talked about exactly what our relationship is yet.

Nik pulled away and looked at me for a moment before speaking, "Dri are you sure? Last night…"

But I had to cut him off, I didn't want him to think any bad of me. "Was last night, I want this. I want this with you." This time when I kissed Nik, he didn't pull away, not until we needed to catch our breath.

I was heading to dad's house after the meet and greet with the Moroi, I played nice and was polite towards the Moroi just like the way I was raised by every adult involved in my life but there was a part of me that didn't want them. It seemed like they didn't care about my grades or my ability to be a Guardian, all they wanted me for was my link to the Queen and royal Moroi family.

Some of them even add the audacity to come up and demand to know why I thought I was allowed to wear contacts, I couldn't help it. I laughed in their face, why would I wear contacts to give myself another reason to stand out in a crowd. There were moments where I wished I could be invisible instead of the stand out that I am.

Hell there was even a point where I begged dad and Ellie to let me wear contacts in hopes of people stop staring at me for the colour of my eyes but none of them ever took, it was strange. It was almost like the Moroi blood and/or Spirit in me were rejecting the contacts and the doctors couldn't explain it.

I entered the house and went straight to the living room in hopes of raiding dad's bar before I was caught, I really needed a shot of alcohol after the luncheon but instead there was a stranger standing there.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my house?" I yelled but the girl just turned around and stared at me.

I stood there, longer then I thought my self-restraint could take before I launched at her for invading my home and putting my family at risk.

B POV

I can see her, I can Adrianna standing there laughing with her friends like she has no care in the world but she should, I've told her enough times that she belongs to me but yet she still continues to throw herself at that bastard Anastas.

I don't know if I can keep waiting it out to put my plan in motion, but I know it needs to be that way, I also know C has his own in mind and we need to work together for this to work but watching her from afar every day is just not helping anymore.

I need her by myside and she will see that I'm the one for her and I can't wait until I'm able to taste her blood, I need that and knowing she's let someone do it before makes me angry and excited at the same time.

The Moroi luncheon was hard, I almost lost it. Having to stand back in the crowd and watch as the Moroi throw themselves at my pet, she will be mine and I will have her soon enough.

Even looking across the room and coming face to face with C was enough to know he was struggling, he was struggling watching his pet being hounded by the Moroi. We almost both lost it in that hall but yet we remained strong and focused because we know we are getting closer to our goal.

We knew we just had to hang around a bit longer, wait for the attention to be taken off the girls. They need to be taken out of the spotlight before we can claim what is ours.

"I want what is mine," I looked up from the window at the sound of his voice, pulling me from where I could see Adrianna walking across the grounds looking as delicious as ever in that dress, it was in that moment I decided she would wear nothing but dresses when she is mine.

"I know, I want what is mine as well but our plan is going as we hoped. They both graduated at the top of their class and are in fine shape, all we need is to get in touch with Barry and he pass on the message for when we are ready but remember for our plan to work we need to wait for the hype of fresh Guardians to die down."

"I know, which means we wait until placements are made but how do you know they won't get shipped off."

"Friends in high places, I know for a fact that Adrianna will be staying at Court for at least twelve months and Clary has been requested by her mother. We both know who these girls are and who their parents are, I doubt it won't be long until they meet. I have a feeling after that both of our girls will still be here and then we have our chance at taking them."

"I just wish we could take them, the sooner they are ours. The sooner I have her the sooner I will have what I want." He growled at me, I needed him to refocus and remember what we spent months planning.

"Just calm down, we will get them. Remember we have to be patient, we've been patient for this long. What is a couple of weeks?" I turned back to face the window, disappointed to find that I missed where Adrianna was heading.


	39. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Adrianna POV

This girl was good when it came to self-defence and I barely got any punches in before I was lifted off and had my arms pinned behind my back.

"Maybe we should put you behind a desk deep down below if you're going to act this way." Dimitri's voice made me think that he was the one holding me.

It didn't take long for dad to come into view, "what were you think Dri? Attacking someone you don't even know, you're going to put yourself in big trouble before you know it if you keep going this way."

"She wouldn't answer my question dad."

"Does it matter? She is a guest in my house, she wasn't doing anything. Just looking around, was the door broken down to make you suspect something was going on otherwise?" dad spoke sternly and I knew I was in trouble, it didn't matter if I was now a Guardian and technically punishment could be served by the council, he was still my father and he was pretty scary when he was mad.

"No," I muttered in response and it was then that Dimitri let me go.

"Exactly now behave because I asked you here for a reason, now this is Clary Barber and her mother Eliza Barber." I looked at them both, Clary was a dhampir obviously a Guardian and Eliza was a Moroi. It didn't make their relationship that unusual these days but still pretty rare.

"And what is so special about them that they are here? I've never met them before, I would have thought you would be more cautious about inviting people into our home?" I questioned and I noticed dad falter, I wonder if he forgot about the emails from B?

"No Dri, I believe they will be fine but just in case both Dimitri and Rose will be here as well, but Dri Eliza is a Spirit user."

I stared at dad before looking back at Clary, there was a part of me that now wished Eliza was a royal. I wanted to know if it was the Spirit in me that caused the emerald green eyes to be one of my features instead of the blue eyes that I was told my mother had.

Looking at her there was nothing distinctive about her and I hated that, it meant she could have enjoyed her education without being picked out of the crowd because she was different.

"Both the girls have the same amount of gold consistency in their auras but it's Adrianna's eyes that shock me." Eliza spoke but I didn't turn my gaze from Clary, in fact she was watching me as well.

"We can't work out why she inherited the emerald green eye colouring associated with Ivashkov's, we just assume it's Spirit since we think that essentially the Spirit is in her Moroi blood not her human blood." Dad replied.

"I can't say for sure since I haven't met anyone else like Adrianna and Clary, I've only heard rumours or spoken with other Spirit users. For all we know it's because her mother is human and it's a weird mix of DNA, remember it's been centuries since we're reproduced with humans. Clary's father is a dhampir so we have to assume that their auras are definitely linked to the Spirit coming from us."

I finally looked away from Clary and at where dad and Eliza were standing, "how did you find us or did we find you?" I had to ask, I had it drilled into to me from all the adults I had to be careful with who I trusted since I had no idea who this B person was.

"I saw you Adrianna, at the Moroi luncheon. I myself am in need of a new Guardian and I'm hoping I will get my daughter but of course I had to be present and so did she. I first spotted you and your eyes, it wasn't until I focused on your aura that I realised you were like Clary. I then snuck out in search of Adrian."

"What are your abilities then?" I questioned while attempting to ignore the look dad was giving me.

"Adrian it's fine, I would be surprised if she wasn't questioning me. I've seen her results from St Vladimir's, you have a very gifted daughter here. My abilities are similar to your fathers, I can read auras, I can dream walk, although we've established that my healing is much better than his since I actually worked as a nurse at Clary's academy and I'm extremely gifted at charming silver objects. If you ask me to charm a silver bracelet so the wear instantly becomes disoriented and sees something other than what is in front of them, I can."

"Interesting, anything else?"

"There is something else and I don't know if it's because I'm close with my daughter or the fact that it's my daughter but I can get a read of her emotions, I can't seem to do it with anyone else though."

"Maybe it's just not a strong power, most Spirit users I've come across seem to have a weaker ability. Mine happens to be my healing, a senior of mine who just graduated had aura reading as his weaker ability."

"But yet it's what showed itself first." I muttered and Dimitri elbowed me causing me to glare at him.

"Don't start on Spencer now Dri. Now Eliza I believe you will have to talk with Mr Lazar when he arrives at Court, he is one of my students and actually has the ability to read emotions of everyone around him. I think you will find him most interesting."

"I believe I will, I have a feeling we are boring the girls. How about we go somewhere else and let them talk." Eliza was right, I was starting to get bored of their talk.

"So nothing is out of the ordinary for you?" Clary spoke but I just ignored her.

"Dri play nice, remember what you have at stake to lose," Dimitri threatened me and I looked at him with narrow eyes.

"You wouldn't dare,"

"I would." He spoke sternly before turning and leaving.

I took a deep breath before turning and facing Clary, "Well aside from my eye colouring, no nothing is different about me."

"I could only imagine the attention you've received because of them but having such an unusual eye colouring like that would be amazing, if we were humans you would such a rarity that people would be easily attracted to you." Clary's face lit up at that statement and I was confused.

"Why do you talk about humans like that? Most of our people talk down about them, like they're just food. No more than cows or pigs."

"I live among humans during the summers, I understand why some people would have those beliefs but in all honesty humans aren't that different to us. Your father must have seen something to get involved with your mother."

"Yes well as you said some people have those beliefs and others don't, my father is careful around humans as is most of my family but we do associate with them. In fact close friends of the family are human."

"That I did not know but although I am inclined to believe that the humans, or at least one of them are alchemists?"

"One of them is yes, is then anything special about you or out of the ordinary?" I questioned wanting to take the conversation away from Sydney and her family.

"No not really, the only out of the ordinary thing that I would find interesting would be that we were both top of classes."

"How is that out of the ordinary? It's just a coincidence, I worked my ass off for years to earn that spot and keep it."

"Yes but I didn't, everything came naturally to me. I understood and it didn't take much effort to keep up my defence classes, I didn't spend nearly as much time in the gym as the rest of my classmates. We don't get given the rankings throughout high school like some of the other academies do, we don't even get grades for our assignments. It's only when we begin to drop below what they deem acceptable that we are called into the headmaster's office."

"You didn't get grades at all? How does that even work, how do you know what you have to improve on?"

"It's what I grew up with so it makes sense to me, its make us work harder because we are in the unknown. We wanted to stay out of the headmaster's office at all costs and that involves throwing ourselves into our work and training. As for what to improve on, there was a trend. After a test or grading exercise, sometimes we would return to something and it was obvious it was something most people struggled on and they deemed it needed to be repeated."

"I guess it sort of makes sense, I'm assuming it's something your academy has done for centuries?"

"It is, my parents met there."

"Where is your dad if you don't mind me asking?" by this point we had moved to the couch and I couldn't help but notice Clary's eyes glaze over at my question before she turned away from me.

"I'm sorry, Clary. You don't have to answer that, I didn't mean to pry. I was just curious since it was just you and your mother here and your mother made mention to needing a new Guardian."

"No it's fine, it's still fresh is all. My mother has already mentioned that she works at my academy, so did my father. They were paired together but while we were at the academy my father was on the academy's Guardian roster. We were attacked, none of the students were harmed, no one was taken. The only people who came out the worst of it were the Guardians working the front gates, my father was one of them."

"Clary I'm so sorry but why did they attack your academy if they didn't want anything in particular?" I couldn't believe this, I don't know what would happened if St Vladimir's had been attacked and I lost any of my family because of it.

"No idea, we never received word of what they found but rumours were floating around the novices that all of them escaped as well. I know my mother knows what happened since she was a staff member but she hasn't told me anything."

We were silent after that, there was one more thing I wanted to ask but I had no idea how to bring it up. How do I ask someone, who is practically a stranger in my childhood home and to me and my family, if they had received strange emails from someone they didn't know and weren't able to trace the email back to anyone?

"Adrianna can I ask you something? I know it's going to sound really strange but have you received any weird emails? I haven't even told my mother but I was hoping…." I was in shock, she bet me to the question before I could even speak.

"That because we're different we would have received emails?" she nodded. "I have, but my family know about the emails. We've never had secrets in my family and they were furious when they found out about this, but surely you understand how dangerous this is?"

"I do, I'm just worried. My academy wasn't as safe as it was yours Adrianna, we didn't have wards and our Moroi student population was incredibly low. Our academy was small only consisting of high schoolers, we had high fences around our borders that prevented anyone from getting in or out. How do I tell my mother that someone has gotten close enough to me to work out what I am but yet I can't see who it was? I've only been to Court once and that was freshman year, you are here all the time."

"Maybe that one trip was enough for you to be spotted, so many people come and go from here. For all I know my stalker has known about me since I first came here and you since you came here freshmen year? You need to tell your mother, we need to try and stop them before it gets too far. What if we get paired with them and no one is none the wiser?" Clary looked really shocked at that, I knew I had been worried about getting paired with whoever this B person is but it's obvious she hadn't.

"I will tell her," she spoke softly before getting up from the couch and heading through the door, I'm assuming in search of my dad and Eliza.

I was still sitting there when I heard the front door opened and Nik shortly came into view, "hey what are you doing here?"

"I came looking for you, I've tried calling you a couple of times." I leaned over and picked up my phone off the table and noticed the missed calls and I paled, how had I not noticed my phone going off?

"Sorry, it's on silent." He frowned at me but I just frowned back before he came over and softly kissed me.

"How was the luncheon?"

"It was fine but what are you willingly doing here?"

I couldn't help but notice the sheepish look on his face before he spoke, "okay so I didn't come looking for you. I received a message from Dimitri asking if I could come here, something about some information that I may find interesting."

"Why you?" I questioned but he just shrugged.

"Because while you and Clary were talking in here I was talking with Eliza in my office where Dimitri was listening in." I turned at the sound of dad's voice and found him standing there beside Dimitri.

"What were you talking about and where's Clary?"

"She's talking to Eliza, something about a mysterious email. Dri Eliza was informing us both of some of the rumours she had heard, some are interesting to say the least but there was one that I'm assuming Dimitri thought Nik should know as well."

"What is it?" I was so quiet when I spoke and Nik placed an arm around me.

"It's rumoured that someone like you Dri can fall pregnant to anyone, as much as I don't want to think about my baby girl," I couldn't help but scrunch my face up at that comment, "having sex I want to warn the both of you. For all we know there is no truth to this rumour but please don't take this lightly."

"So wait you're saying that if Nik and I have sex I could fall pregnant?" I was shocked, not only because there was no way it could be true but because we just had sex this morning, what if I was pregnant.

"Yes Dri that is exactly what Adrian is saying. We just want the two of you to be careful." Dimitri had his mask up but I knew him well enough to know that hurt in his eyes, he was disappointed that Rose couldn't fall pregnant like I possibly could.

Dad and Dimitri left shortly after that and I turned to look at Nik, I noticed he looked as worried as I was. "hey it might not be true, it could just be a rumour." I placed my hand on his face.

"I know, it was just a shock."

"I know Nik, I'm shocked as well but what if I am pregnant?" I leaned against him and both of his arms came around me.

"Then we will worry about it if it happens, but from now on we will careful, we don't want any more shocks like this."

"I know but surely you must think my family is accepting of you now that they've brought you in on this?"

"I know, I can't think to imagine what would happen if you fell pregnant and I didn't know about this."

I pulled away from him slightly so I could face, would he really not trust me? "Would you really not trust me if I said it was yours?"

"Think about it Dri, dhampirs can't have children together our DNA doesn't mix. As much as I trust you, I've grown up to believe our kind have children together it just would have been damn hard to believe you when you told me."

I nodded at him as I leaned back against him, not wanting him to know I was hurt over finding this out.

"But I know now, and I won't question you if something does happen." He kissed the top of my head but I didn't say anything in reply, I was too worried over the fact that I could be pregnant.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and setting alerts for this story, it means a lot to me.**

 **Lissa Sage** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.**


	40. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Adrianna POV

Nik and I didn't stay at dad's house for long, I didn't even say goodbye to Clary and Eliza since they were still in dad's office talking, and I'm just hoping Clary took my advice and told Eliza about the emails.

I hesitated at the door in the stairwell leading to the floor that my apartment was on, I needed time to think but I don't know if I wanted that time with my friends nearby.

"Are you alright?" Nik asked his voice full of concern, but I was just grateful he didn't touch me.

"Are you kidding me? You literally just told me that if I told you I was pregnant you wouldn't even hesitate before thinking I had sex with someone else if we didn't know about that rumour!" I yelled at him.

My initial reaction to his statement was hurt, but then it turned into anger and it was stewing while we were still there. Now it's had no choice but to explode at him.

"Dri how else would you expect me to react? Think about it this way, what if Bri and Damon were dating, what if Bri was special like you and what if Bri fell pregnant. Wouldn't you automatically assume Bri had sex with a Moroi if you didn't know about this rumour? Come on Dri we've both had the same upbringing, we've both been told that dhampirs cannot have children together or if they had they've run off together preventing us from finding out.

Think about it, up until Lissa and Adrian were our ages no one had heard of Spirit. Surely there have been people just like you but we don't know because no one knew about Spirit, so surely there have been dhampirs to conceive together and if they have then they've run off to blend in with the humans. I know you Dri and I trust you, but without knowing the rumour I would worry you have had sex with someone else but wouldn't you?" Nik spoke and I could tell he was angry but I was just glad he wasn't yelling at me this time.

I didn't say anything, I just burst into tears. "Hey, I'm not mad there is no need to cry, Dri I'm sorry." Nik cupped my face and wiped away my tears.

"I'm sorry, it's just I'm sick of being special like this. Why can't I have a normal life and not worry about these things?" I spoke in between sobs.

"I know, we wouldn't have as much worry as we do if it wasn't for the Spirit in you but think about it, without it in you, you wouldn't be you. We may never have been paired together and we may never have found each other, no matter what goes wrong from now because of the Spirit in you please remember that one positive I know is true." I stepped closer to him and pressed my face against his chest, he was right.

For all we know, if it wasn't for the Spirit in me I may never had met Nik and I may never had fallen for him.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled against his chest.

"I know όmorfos," Nik softly kissed the top of my head but I pulled away to look at him. I've heard him speak in Greek before, whether it's on his phone or I've gotten him so angry he's start pacing while spitting it out to calm down but I've never once had him actively speak in Greek to me.

"What did you say?" I questioned but all he did was smirk at me before shaking his head.

"Are you coming up to my apartment or are you going back to your friends?"

I didn't answer his question, I just frowned at him. "Nope you won't tell me what you said."

"Why does it matter? It's not like I said anything cruel or mean, or don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you, I just don't see what the big deal is in you not telling me?"

"Because you Dri are a very stubborn and competitive person, the fact that I have this over you is very fun for me." He grinned at me but I continued to frown.

"I'm going to the gym instead," I pulled away from him and opened the door to head to my own apartment before getting changed and going towards the gym.

I stayed away from the main Guardian gym because I had a feeling that with so many Guardians at Court it would be packed and headed to the smaller one I knew the Royal Guard had access to in hopes it would be quieter and my connection with Lissa and Rose would grant me entry while Nik wouldn't.

I don't know how long I was in the gym for I lost track of time, I was jumping from machine to machine, bag to bag before retiring to a corner on the floor.

I was still sitting there with my headphones listening to my music and my eyes closed when someone had pulled one out. My eyes snapped opened in surprise, if it wasn't for the fact of where I was I probably would have attacked but every single one of the Guardians that had granted access to this gym could either kick my ass or get me into a lot of trouble but instead I found Rose looking at me with worry.

"You know Nik's worried about you," I looked at my lap while she took a seat beside me.

"You heard the rumour about me, he even said himself that if he didn't know about the rumour and I told him I was pregnant he would think I had sex with a Moroi."

"I did hear it…" she trailed off and I looked at her.

"Your hurt that I could possibility fall pregnant with Nik while you couldn't with Dimitri."

"I admit I am a little but it's not your fault Dri, I am in no way angry at you for something you may potentially get that I couldn't but this isn't the first time either."

"What do you mean?"

"Before you were born, while Adrian was away we came across another dhampir that is a restored Strigoi, her sister had restored her. We've kept in contact with the Spirit user since but she doesn't like coming to Court." I've heard a few Spirit users mentioned over the years but I rarely met them, Sonya was the only one I did because of how close she was with my family and even then no tests were done.

"Why?"

"Because her sister wasn't trusted here, I'm too sure what happened in the events leading up to her departure since Lissa and I were busying hiding away for our studies but the one thing I do know for sure is that Olive was pregnant and supposably to a dhampir as well. It is a well-kept secret between our family and Sydney, it's also the same time we found out who Dimitri's father was."

"How was it Olive was able to fall pregnant?"

"She isn't like you we know that, we believe that there may have been some Spirit left over from being restored and it was enough for her to fall pregnant."

"But then why didn't it work with you and Dimitri, surely you tried if you knew."

"We did Dri, so many times with so many other things. In the end we decided it just wasn't possible, maybe it's only females that have been restored that get affected. We don't know specifically."

"I'm so sorry Rose."

"It's fine Dri, I'm well past that hurt now."

"If you say so, but what happened to Olive and the baby? Surely the baby would be somewhat special as well?"

"Well Olive died not long after giving birth to him, we only managed to get a name for him. Surely you remember Declan, Sydney's eldest?"

"Wait are you saying that Declan isn't actually Sydney and Trey's?" Declan had always treated me like one of his sisters whenever we visited them during the rare summers when they were in the same area.

"I am Dri, they agreed to protect the child to begin with but they fell in love with him like he was their own."

"Is Trey special?"

"No nothing like you, both Lissa and Adrian say there is no Spirit in his aura."

"But he's a dhampir, he should be a Guardian. Everyone complains about how low our numbers are but yet the Queen herself knows where we have one out in hiding."

"Technically it's up to Sydney and Trey, they legally adopted him. They didn't want to enrol him in our academies and Lissa respects their wishes."

"But wouldn't having him go through the training and education we did to help determine whether or not he is special? Clary thinks that the Spirit gave her an advantage over her classmates, she believes it's why she was ranked first. She said she didn't spend anywhere near as much time in the gym as her classmates but yet she beat them, I may have spent more time in the gym compared to my classmates and I blew away their scores. Bri and Damon were second and third and I blew their scores away, I was constantly in the gym with those two. Wouldn't one assume our grades would be similar, but they weren't?"

"I know Dri, I've heard the supposed rumours as well but all of it is just speculation and we honestly don't believe Declan will have any help towards all of this. Both Dimitri and I have gone out on numerous occasions and he would be no different to the rest of the novices had they only gotten basic training amongst the humans, there is nothing special about him. He seems to be just your ordinary dhampir, please let this go and stop fighting it."

"But how do you know he can't be helpful into finding out what is special about me?"

"Because he isn't like you, neither of his parents were Spirit user. We have both you and Clary, it makes it a hell of a lot better than when it was just you. We can test things on the both of you, if things are different then it isn't because of the Spirit but if it is then yes maybe it because of the Spirit. How can Declan help you if he's got no Spirit in him?"

"I just hate this…" I whispered and Rose wrapped her arms around me pulling me close.

"I know Dri and I promise we will work it out, we just need to wait until after some of the fresh Guardians start clearing out."

"Okay, how come you know Nik is worried?"

"He came to Dimitri and I, he said you said you were going to the gym but he couldn't find you in there. I figured you would be in here, so I came."

I nodded against her shoulder but she just laughed, "come on let's get you home and you can relieve Nik of his worry. You need some sleep and I know that Mr Lazar is arriving tomorrow, hasn't your dad set up a meeting between the two of you so you can officially be introduced?"

"Yeah he has, what if he doesn't want me though?"

"We won't know, he would have witnessed your field experience surely knows how good of a Guardian you are and maybe considering the fact that he is a Spirit user he may want to be a part of the testing we will be running with you."

"But what will happen if he doesn't want me?"

"We don't know, give you to someone who does want you? We will figure that out tomorrow, come on let's get you home and worry about unknowns at another time," Rose stood up and held her hand out for me to help me up.

I decided in the end I would spend another night at Nik's if he would let me, I couldn't go back to my apartment not with Bri there. They had all made plans for us to have lunch tomorrow with our Moroi friends before everything changed, Bri told me the plans today but I told her I couldn't go. She tried to question me about what my plans were but I couldn't tell her, I couldn't tell her about how I may be putting on the back burner for an upcoming senior and why. In the end plans were made for dinner and if Lazar wants me as his Guardian then I will tell her the plans.

I knocked on the door to Nik's apartment and when it swung opened I could tell he was relieved at seeing me standing there.

Nik stood aside and let me in, he spoke as soon as the door was shut. "Where have you been Dri?"

"The gym like I said,"

"I went there, you weren't."

"I know Rose told me you went to her and Dimitri, Nik there is more than one gym here. The royal guards have their own, because of my connections with Rose and Lissa I can have access to the gym but I'm pretty sure that will stop soon enough."

"Alright, are you still mad at me?"

I shook my head at him, "of course not, there is just so much going on and nothing can be sorted until placements are revealed and everyone slowly starts leaving. Sometimes I just get a little overwhelmed and I need my space to cool down. Can I stay here tonight?"

"Always," he smiled at me before leaning down to kiss me.

"Good because I can't deal with Bri right now and I need a shower."

"Why can't you deal with Bri?"

"Because I don't even know how to begin explaining my potential placement, I would rather wait until I know for sure what is going on. I would have even tried putting it off for as long as possible with you had Hans not said anything."

"Alright, go have your shower. Dinner is almost finished if you're hungry?" I nodded before heading down the hallway and jumping in the shower.

Dad had organised to have this meeting with Lazar take place in one of the side rooms in the royal building, it also happened to be the same room where they housed all their Spirit related research.

I was told to sit in here and wait for dad to come back with Lazar but I have never been one to sit still, instead I was pacing the room waiting in anticipation. I was incredibly nervous for this meeting, I had no idea what he wanted in his Guardians, hell I didn't even know if he would be interested in learning about Spirit this in depth.

"Adrianna?" I jumped at the sound of the voice, I had forgotten what his voice sounded like since it had been months since we've spoken. "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you, in fact I'm surprised I did startle you." He smirked at me and I shook my head, I had a feeling if he agreed we would get along just fine.

"It's fine, I just didn't recognise the voice. I honestly thought dad was going to be in here with us."

"I thought so as well but he said we should talk," he pointed towards the arm chairs and I walked over to sit in one.

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Nope, I've got no idea as to why I'm in here with you."

I couldn't believe this, dad was relying on me to convince him to accept me as his Guardian otherwise I had no idea what would be happening with my placement.

"There have been some discussions about our futures, you know that I'm special and they want to protect me as well as work out what is exactly special about me. They also know Spirit users have to be protected."

"I still don't understand what that has to do with me being in here, I haven't graduated and don't get Guardians yet."

"I know…" I rubbed my face before looking at him, "I really wish I didn't have to be the one to do this. They're hoping that you will accept me as your Guardian, for 12 months I will be living at Court giving my dad and Lissa the opportunity to run tests or whatever it is they want to do to work out what is exactly different. They believe it's the only way to do it, they believe if the Moroi start hearing that I'm placed at Court instead of a Moroi they will begin to wonder how good our education is at the academies, but if they can say I'm waiting on my Moroi to graduate especially a Moroi that has specialized in Spirit it will be easily accepted."

"Everything aside what do you want for your future?"

"As weird as it sounds, I want this option."

"Why?"

I was silent thinking about his question, could I really tell him why I really wanted this option and what it would mean for my future.

"I barely know you but I believe that even after you graduate you would be more interested in studying Spirit with dad and Lissa, the fact that you are here instead of with your own family for the summer proves that. If I'm right it means I won't lose my family, I will get to see them regularly, I can't lose my family James. My family means everything to me." I squeezed my eyes tight in hopes of pushing back the tears that were trying to form.

It was true, my family meant everything to me and I couldn't lose them. I grew up without my mother, I wasn't born into this world I was thrown into it and some of their values still don't sit right with me but I follow them regardless because I don't want the consequences of not following them.

"What about Guardian Anastas?"

"What about him?"

"You're forgetting what I've told you, your mind is different to everyone else and I'm easily pulled into yours. Guardian Anastas has been brought up a couple of times."

"Yes fine you accepting this deal means I get at least 12 months with him, he has been placed at Court but I was hoping that just me not wanting to lose my family would be enough for you."

He was silent for way too long and I didn't like it, I had no idea if he would even accept it now considering I kept Nik away from my reasoning but I didn't want him to think the only reason I wanted to stay was because of 'boyfriend' at this point I would still chose my family over him.

"I've seen your grades, I've seen you fight and you are incredibly talented but why would I give up one of my Guardian slots for you. Give me the pitch you would give any other Moroi."

"Seriously I hated that aspect of the Moroi luncheon," I grumbled but he just laughed.

"Adrianna I believe we will get along just fine." He grinned at me and I was confused, did he just say?

"Wait, is that you saying you'll accept this offer and give up being able to choose both your Guardians?"

"Yes, as you said I am incredibly interested in studying Spirit with Adrian and Queen Vasilisa and being able to have you there will make things easier or more interesting. I can't give up that option to learn something new about Spirit because I don't know who I'm going to end up with and there is a chance that my children might be like you, I want to know what will be different about them. It also helps how much of a talented Guardian you are and I also believe we will get along just fine."

"Thank you, it means a lot." He just shrugged and I narrowed my eyes.

"Eh, I just don't want to give up the chance to have the best Guardians." He grinned and I just shook my head, he was right I had a feeling we would get along just fine.

 **A/N: Quick note, I do not speak Greek or no anyone that speaks Greek and my translations come from google. According to google όmorfos means beautiful, if any of my readers know Greek and I'm incorrect please let me know so I can fix it.**

 **ShadowGuardian2002** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying my story, enough people requested me to continue it and I was hit with a lot of ideas to continue writing it.**


	41. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Adrianna POV

"So where have you been lately? I've barely seen you." Bri spoke as soon as I entered the apartment, I looked at her and grinned.

"Aw are you missing me already? What are you going to be like when we are apart for months Bri?"

"Oh you think I'm missing you, hell no I just need you to clean up your mess in the kitchen."

"That's not my mess, it's probably yours or the boys. You've said yourself I haven't been here much."

I waved my hand at her before continuing down the hallway heading towards my room to have a quick shower, I had gone to the gym after leaving dad and James alone in their Spirit room. It turns out dad had already spoken to James about taking me as his Guardian and he accepted, he was just messing me asking why I wanted it and I wanted to punch him in the face.

I didn't get far before I heard Bri running up behind me and I turned just in time to catch her and push her against the wall. "Bri you are forgetting I out ranked you." I grinned at her and she pouted.

"I've missed you."

"I know Bri I've missed you as well, let me shower and then we can do something together before dinner with our friends?"

"Sure but I have something in mind." There was a strange look on her face but I let it go and headed towards my bedroom.

When I left my bathroom after my shower I couldn't help but notice that my bed didn't have the sheets it previously did, I shook my head before getting dressed and heading out to the lounge room where I literally stopped and burst out laughing.

"What you don't like it?" Bri complained and I turned to look at her with a smile on my face.

"No I love it, why not celebrate the ending of our childhood like this." I walked over and hugged her.

The reason my sheets were missing was because while I was in the shower she had built this massive fort in the lounge room and I couldn't believe she had done this. We used to build forts all the time when we were younger but as we got older they stopped, I was even pleased to see the piles of junk food in the fort for us.

"You did all of this while I was in the shower?"

"As I said, I've missed you Dri and in all honestly we don't know what our future will entail after the next few days." I honestly have missed Bri, I couldn't believe I've let my friendships slip by spending too much time with Nik.

It was then I decided that until when and if my friends leave Court I will be spending more time with them instead of Nik, hopefully he understands.

"I do…" I said softly and she looked at me in shock.

"How? No one ever finds out their placement in the days leading up, it's either been long decided or you find out when Guardian Croft informs us."

"Because of my special circumstances, they want to keep me where they can keep an eye on me but they also don't want to waste my talent. So I've been placed with a Spirit user."

"But that's Spencer unless there's one from another academy."

"There isn't."

"Then what's going on Dri?"

"I'm being placed at Court for 12 months until the next Spirit user graduates, me being at Court also allows me to go through whatever testing dad and Lissa want in hopes of working out what is exactly different about me, so far we've only heard speculation."

"How do you know the next Spirit user will agree though?"

"I've already met with him Bri, it's fine. My future is completely sorted."

"What about Anastas though?"

"Are you ever going to call him by his first name?" Bri shrugged and I laughed before continue. "We've spoken briefly, we're both going to be at Court for the next 12 months but as for what is happening between us, that we haven't spoken about. I think we were just hoping to get through all that is required by the new Guardians."

"You know I'm incredibly happy for you, to be able to find someone in our crazy lives. Most dhampirs never get the chance to find love and I'm also incredibly jealous of that." I leaned against Bri.

She was right, most dhampirs don't find love, most only find a suitable partner to have children with and males most of the time don't get the option. It doesn't matter if Rose and Dimitri changed the views on dhampir/dhampir relationships, it's still hard to find one let alone make it a successful one.

"I'm sure you will find someone one day, we're not meant to be alone. Even if you just find someone you deem suitable enough to have children with, you won't be alone forever. I wouldn't let it Bri, we're family."

"Then that means I get to be at yours and Anastas' wedding," she clapped her hands together and I couldn't help but laugh at her actions.

"Alright something tells me you have god knows what movies we used to watch all the time as children in the plans for this afternoon as well?"

"You know me too well Dri," she grinned before crawling over and setting up the first movie.

B POV

"You should be pleased with yourself, I think this is closest you've ever been to her." I grinned at C before looking back at Adrianna.

C and I were both pleased to see Adrianna walk into the restaurant we were currently dining for dinner, I know C was disappointed that Clary wasn't around but still we couldn't miss the opportunity to gather some Intel on Adrianna.

The information we could gather by listening in on her friends could be useful, it could be what allows us to take Adrianna away the grounds without anyone noticing.

"I will pleased when she is mine and I will be able to touch her and that bastard won't be able to."

I hated that my pet, my Adrianna let that bastard Anastas lay his hands on her. Shouldn't he know that someone as special as Adrianna belonged to someone else?

C had it easy, he didn't have to worry about someone touching his pet. As far as we both knew Clary was alone and hadn't badly attached someone to herself.

Every time I saw Anastas affectionately touch or kiss my pet I wanted to beat his skull in but I couldn't, I couldn't do something as drastic as that. I knew how much attention it would cause for me to do something like that considering he was well known for his high amount of Strigoi kills in a short amount of time.

"I know and we will get both of them within due time, you were the one that said not long now. The Guardians receive their placements in a couple of days and then they slowly start leaving after that."

"You don't think I know that?" I growled at him and he backed off for the moment.

I was a little touchy on the Guardian placement topic, I had recently found out from my source within the Guardian's office that Adrianna will be staying at Court for 12 months. Yes it's a bonus for me because it will be easier to take her but it's also more likely that her family will notice her disappearance. We were betting on taking both of their Moroi charges with us but this changes the plans.

It means we now have to find a moment where the girls are allow, separated from everyone and it allows us to grab them without being noticed but Adrianna is a still a hard one.

Adrianna might only be a fresh Guardian but she is also a highly recognised presence amongst everyone living at Court, her eyes and Ivashkov heritage are proof of that.

But it won't stop me, either way I will take what is mine no matter how hard it is.

"We should head back, we still need to finalize the plans. If things are changing we need to inform Barry and maybe a trip away from Court is needed."

"I understand, we've finished and it will look suspicious if we stay that much longer." I spoke and C nodded before both stood up leaving money on the table for our meal.

I stole one last look at my pet and noticed how happy she looked with her friends, I knew she would be happier with me and time will tell. "You will be mine Adrianna," I whispered and it was almost like she had heard me because she looked my way with a confused look on her face but I was just glad she never directly looked at me.


	42. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Adrianna POV

"Okay please tell me why we are breaking into Dimka's house?" Zoya questioned and I shook my head.

"We're not breaking into Dimitri's house Zoya." I replied

"Holy crap we're breaking into Guardian Hathaway and Belikov's house." I instantly stopped walking and turned to face everyone behind me.

My friends as well as Zoya's friends were bored, we had learnt early on that we would all get along incredibly well due to our similar behavioural issues at school. Tonight we were bored and I suggested going and getting drunk except none of us were old enough to buy alcohol. I also haven't seen any of the older Moroi that I knew and would also buy me alcohol.

But I happened to know of a stash of fake sitting in their office and I just hoped there would be one that looked like one of the unfamiliar faces amongst our group.

Tomorrow everything changed, placements were handed out and it was only a matter of time before all my friends slowly started leaving one by one.

"Let's get one thing straight now, we are not breaking into anyone's house. I happen to know that both Rose and Dimitri are working, I also know there are fake in the office and hopefully one of them will get us the alcohol we want."

"I really don't want to break into their house." One of Zoya's friends complained again and I just hung my head.

"Fine, don't stay out here for all I care but all you said you were up for an adventure and I thought us sneaking around like this would be fun. It doesn't matter if I have keys, people will still question why I'm entering their house with so many people while they're working."

In the end only two of Zoya's friends stayed in the court yard near Rose and Dimitri's house while we entered, we didn't really have to sneak around but yet we were because it seemed like the fun thing to do.

It would have been just as easy if I went on my own to grab the but yet I state again, where is the fun in that?

We were lucky, there was an I.D that looked similar to one Zoya's friends and we were able to get the alcohol we wanted before returning to the apartment I was still currently sharing with Bri.

We had the music playing a little too loudly and just hoped none of neighbours cared that much and didn't come and check on us.

"Let's play truth or dare." Zoya's friend Lena exclaimed and I shared looks with Bri.

She knew why I was so against playing truth and dare, the last time I played truth or dare I was dared to kiss a teacher, my incredibly hot Greek mentor but little did they all know I actually went through with the dare.

"Do we have to Lena? Come on we aren't 12 anymore, it's pretty lame."

"Dri we're all 18, we're all Court what is the worst thing that could happen?"

"I don't know about you Lena but Zoya and I are practically related to the Queen, a lot could happen." I looked over at Zoya but yet it seemed as though she didn't care, she seemed pretty excited about this idea.

"Oh come on Dri it could be a lot of fun," I snapped my gaze around and looked at Damon, I couldn't believe this.

"Seriously are all my friends going to gang up on me?" before anyone had the chance to say anything there was a knock on the door. "Saved by the bell," I stuck my tongue out at them all before standing up.

I honestly hadn't thought I had that much to drink but standing up then I became dizzy and it all hit me at once.

I stood there on the spot for a moment before heading towards the door having no idea who could be on the other side, all I knew was that I didn't want it to be Rose or Dimitri.

I opened the door and grinned at the sight of seeing Nik standing there, "Hi."

"Hi yourself, where have you been?"

"With my friends, I realised that they may be leaving soon whereas you won't be." I frowned at him but he nodded.

"That's fine, a little warning may have been preferable but I can understand your need to spend time with your friends but can I have your time tomorrow when they're all receiving their placements?"

"If I'm not hungover," I grumbled causing him to studying me.

"Your drunk Dri."

"Sure am," I grinned at him.

"How did you get alcohol?"

"Do you really want to know Nik?"

"Nope not really, have fun tonight okay and come see me tomorrow?" I nodded at him before leaning up to softly kiss him.

"Remember the last time, we kissed and I was drunk?" I questioned quietly when I pulled away from the kiss.

"I thought we agreed to not talk about that," he hissed but I lowered my gaze knowing he was right.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine, go have fun with your friends." he kissed my forehead before heading down the hallway leaving me to wonder if I made a mistake in mentioning that god forsaken kiss.

I ended up going back to friends and agreeing to play the game of truth or dare, in fact I can barely remember what happened during the game.

The only thing I do know is that I woke up in my bed and the apartment was empty, I knew I felt like shit and if I felt like shit then I had a feeling my friends would be as well but at least I could have a hot shower and curl up in front of the couch watching T.V while I recovered.

I left the bathroom and entered my room to hear my phone. I looked at it with dread, not wanting to deal with Rose right now but then I heard the banging on the door, it didn't take a genius to work out who was at my door.

I quickly threw on whatever I could grab to go and answer the door, finding out I was right when I saw Rose on the other side.

"Hand it over Dri," she held out her hand and I knew she wanted the I.D back, I just hoped me playing dumb would be enough.

"Hand what over?"

"Dri don't play stupid with me, I know for a fact that one of the in my office is missing and you've got three hungover friends at the placement ceremony while Zoya herself and three of her friends are also hungover. I only have to put two and two together."

"I still don't know what you are on about Rose, now if you don't mind I was in the middle of getting ready before you started banging on my front door." I snapped at her before back towards my room.

"Dri, I'm not here to get you in trouble. I just need that I.D back, I'm not going to get any of your friends in trouble. When have I ever done that for you?" Rose was right, she always knew when I got up to something stupid at Court whether it was a party or something stupid with some of the older dhampirs before they became Guardians and left.

I walked over to the draws and pulled one opened to grab the I.D and hand it back, truth was I was hoping to put it back before she had noticed it was gone.

"You know we just wanted one more night of fun before everything changed, everything is changing right now for my friends. In who knows how long everyone will be leaving and I will be here with my family and Nik."

"But that's what you wanted, you wanted your family and Nik and for all you know your friends might not be leaving, they may be getting paired with Moroi that either live at Court or spend a lot of time here."

"I know but most of the time, most new Guardians get placed with Moroi that don't live at Court. I grew up here, I've seen what happens and how it works."

"I know Dri, remember I went through the same thing as you when I was your age. I lost one of my best friends during Christmas break senior year, Eddie got shipped off to Palm Springs with Jill and Sydney. Mia is constantly traveling. The only friends I had to begin with was Lissa and Christian." I looked at her in shock, I didn't know Rose had lost a friend during the Christmas break her senior year.

I knew that during her senior year there was a bunch of attacks on the royal families but I had no idea it affected Rose. I had been told that Mia lost her mum during those attacks, I knew a lot of people who knew people that had been killed from those attacks but I had no idea Rose lost one of her best friends.

"But you had Dimitri Rose."

"I know but love doesn't make up for the loss of friends, I know what it's like to lose friends Dri but just because your friends might be leaving doesn't mean you won't see them. You've seen how often Jill, Eddie and Mia all visit."

"I know, it's just hard to deal with the fact that they may be leaving." I collapsed onto my bed and Rose just looked at me filled pity.

"Just see what happens tonight, I'm assuming you're having dinner with Bri, Damon and Josh?"

"Yeah I am but then I'm seeing Zoya tomorrow. I can't believe it's taken this long for both of us to have some free time and I've barely seen Olena."

"I know, Olena understands. Who knows, you may be able to go visit her at some stage during the next 12 months but Olena is here for a little bit longer and she would like to see both you and Nik again before she leaves."

"I know and I promise we will…crap speaking of Nik I told him last night I would see him today." My eyes went wide when I remember that small bit of information from last night but Rose just laughed.

"It's fine, go see Nik. I'm sure I will see you around and no more stealing from my office or next time you will be in trouble." Rose warned me before getting up and leaving me alone to get changed into something a bit better for seeing Nik before heading up to his apartment.

"You look like crap," Nik spoke when he opened the door but I just glared at him.

"And you're an asshole," I snapped back before walking past him towards the lounge room.

"Aw are you hungover?" he cooed while he walked over and sat beside me on the couch.

"Why are you being annoying? I would much rather be at my apartment watching T.V then dealing with you and your annoying moods." I muttered at him but all he did was grip my feet and pull my down on the couch so I was lying down and he climbed on top.

"Don't you dare Nik, I'm really not in the mood for this."

"For what Dri? You have no idea what I have in mind right now," he smirked before leaning down and kissing me.

He pulled away not long after and shifted us so we were lying side by side on the couch facing each other.

"Okay, this isn't so bad." I muttered against his chest and I felt the vibrations from him laughing.

"I had a feeling you would be hungover, you were pretty drunk last night. I'm planning on getting us pizza for lunch as well."

"Yum, pizza fixes everything." My comment caused him to laugh again but I looked up at him.

"That's right, you're Greek. If you were Italian you would understand." We were both silent while he processed what I just said before I laughed.

I didn't even think about my heritage when I made that comment but it just made it all that funnier knowing I am part Italian.

"You are such a goofball sometimes." I had closed my eyes almost falling asleep curled up in Nik's arms, usually when I'm hungover it's all I want is to sleep.

"But you love it…" I trailed off with sleep coming closer.

"You're right Dri, I do love you."

My eyes snapped opened and I stared at him, taking in what it was he exactly said and what I exactly said before that.


	43. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

Adrianna POV

"Dri are you alright?" I nodded at the sound of Izzy's voice.

We were all currently sitting in the apartment that Izzy and Eric were sharing, we had hoped that this dinner between the 8 of us will let us all know at once what everyone's futures entailed, well actually more so the newly named Guardians than the Moroi.

We knew what the Moroi were doing, they were going off to college and if I knew them as well as I thought I did, I had a feeling that all four of them were going off together.

I just had no idea what my dhampir friends had been given for their futures, was I being selfish in hoping that they would be staying at Court with me? Or worst case they were paired with our Moroi friends so that way I could still see all my friends every now and then.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Bri whispered when she sat down next to me.

I was too busy staring at the window thinking about what Nik had said earlier.

"You're right Dri, I do love you."

My eyes snapped opened and I stared at him, taking in what it was he exactly said and what I exactly said before that.

"I'm sorry what?" I stuttered but all he did was caress my cheek not looking away from me.

"I love you Dri."

"You can't know that, we've only being doing this for a couple of days. That's not right, you can't mess with me like this!" I hissed at him before pulling away and climbing off the couch.

"Dri don't do this." Nik spoke as he stood up and I shook my head at him.

"Don't do what?"

"This, pushing me away because I told you that I love you. Yes we've only been doing whatever this is for a couple of days because there are no rules against it now but it doesn't mean the feelings haven't deepened in the last couple of months."

"No, you don't know what you're saying." I shook my head attempting to push back my tears as I stormed out of his apartment.

I haven't spoken to him since I stormed out, I felt bad for leaving but there was no way he could drop that bomb on me and not have me panic especially considering he knew that's why Spencer broke up with me.

"Something happened with Nik but now isn't the time." I spoke softly and all Bri did was squeeze my hand, I was thankful she didn't say anything to alert my friends.

I would have been stupid to think my friends hadn't realised something was bothering me but I knew my friends as well as they knew me, I would always open up in my own time and until I always tried to convince them that I was perfectly fine.

"Alright now that we've sorted out that Dri is perfectly fine," I ignored the look Damon shot me as he spoke. "Where do we begin, we all know why we're here now who got what. I have a feeling Dri has known for a couple of days as to what her future is since she wasn't there today."

"Wait Dri how come you were there? I thought all Guardians who were being assigned a new placement had to attend." Caroline was confused while Izzy and Eric shared a looked, they were royal so surely they knew what it means to be separated from the big placement ceremony.

"Care it's because they wanted to put my remarkable talents to a particular use, there have been circumstances in the past where Guardians haven't been in attendance." I spoke just hoping Damon and Josh knew what I was getting at, it wasn't my remarkable talents, it was more my special circumstances.

"I don't understand why? I would have thought you would have gone to a high ranking Moroi, whether or not they were Royal. I understand I'm not royal and don't understand everything that goes on at Court like you, Izzy or Eric do but I still understand how the placements work." Caroline replied and I was worried, how could I keep going on and lying to my friends. I couldn't even think of a decent lie to convince my Moroi friends as to what was going on.

"Oh come on Dri, we should tell them. I know you were told to keep it a secret but come on they're our friends and I would have thought after everything this year you would know they would be there for you. Hell Eric took on two weeks suspension and the wrath of his parents to help get back at Spencer for you." Bri spoke and I stared at her in shock, I had no idea what she was on about.

Long ago Bri, Damon, Josh and myself had all agreed that we should keep the fact that I have some Spirit in me a secret, we didn't know what would happen come the end of graduation since we all weren't that close. I knew I could trust the boys as well as I could Bri and I also knew that after graduation those three wouldn't leave my side no matter the distance between us.

"Tell them what Bri?"

"Oh come on, let me do it. Guys there is a rumour that one of the Queens' royal Guards may be stepping down next summer and they believe that Dri will be a valuable addition. So they plan on keeping Dri at Court in hopes of getting her the little bit closer to be just as good as the rest of the royal Guard." Holy fucking shit.

I had no idea where Bri pulled this big ass lie from, I had no idea if it would work considering who Izzy and Eric's parents were but still if they believed this then maybe we would be fine and they wouldn't ask questions.

"Holy crap Dri that is amazing congratulations!" Izzy exclaimed before rushing over and giving me a hug while I shot Bri a look.

"Yes Dri is very luck but look guys, it's only rumoured so you can't tell anyone."

"We promise," Caroline spoke with a grin on her face and I was glad they brought it, I just hoped it didn't come back to bite me in the ass.

"Alright now that Dri's very promising future is settled what about the rest of you?" Eric spoke looking at the rest of my friends, but something was a little off about it.

"I may as well go first since I had a feeling I'm the one leaving first," I snapped my gaze at Bri in shock. I couldn't have her leave first. "I'm being placed with a Moroi in London, I fly out tomorrow."

"What no, no Guardians never leave this quickly," my voice broke and Bri looked at me with pity.

I don't know if it was because of what Nik said earlier that made her departure that much harder knowing I needed my best friend around or the fact that I was losing my best friend so much earlier than I had expected.

"I know but I'm replacing someone and the switch needs to be urgently, you have to know I would stay as long as I could but I can't."

"What about you two?" I questioned Damon and Josh with blurry vision.

They shared a look that made me realise they had spoken before our dinner but what shocked me was when they pointed at Izzy and Eric.

I knew Izzy and Eric were royal and that their families were important but for them to get Damon and Josh, their families had to be really important because Damon and Josh were ranked in the top five along with me at the top ranked academy. Normally the top ranked students got shipped off to high ranking older Moroi, not freshly graduated royal Moroi.

"Who else did you two get? Your royal, normally you get two." I responded but Izzy shook her head.

"We thought so as well which is why we requested two, but I suppose their talent outweighs the need to waste a second Guardian considering both of us were in the self-defence class."

"Izzy's right and for the record we did request the four of you between us. When we saw your grades Dri we knew we would have a hard time getting you but Bri we didn't know considering how close hers and Damon's grades were." I nodded in response.

"What about Caroline and Elliot?" Josh questioned and I was thankful, I honestly didn't know if knew how to speak after everything today.

"We're getting one each,"

"We're assuming it's because of Izzy and Eric's family pulling their weight for us but they're from another school."

"When does everyone leave? I know you four won't be staying here for college since there isn't much around here." I questioned when I worked out how my voice worked.

"Izzy and I are going to the East Coast for college and leave a month before the start of term." Eric responded.

"I'm going to the West Coast and leave around the same time as Izzy and Eric." Elliot responded and I was shocked that he didn't speak for Caroline as well.

"I'm going to the West Coast but more California area while Elliot is going to Seattle area, again leaving at the same time." Caroline finally spoke last and it all sunk in, come September I would have no friends at Court.

Most College courses that the Moroi only had access too started around September, which meant they were all leaving around the start of August and that was only two weeks away.

I couldn't believe that I only had tonight and the small amount of time tomorrow with Bri before she left tomorrow and god I just hoped I could be the one to drive her to the local airport. Then I had two weeks before everyone else left.

"I promise I will come see you all before I leave tomorrow but right now I think Dri needs me more," Bri spoke as she grabbed my arm to pull up from the couch and out of Izzy and Eric's apartment.

"I know I have sucky timing but what happened with you and Nik?" Bri spoke as soon as we were seated in our own apartment.

"He told me that he loved me…"

"He what!" Bri exclaimed and it was then I heard the door slam.

"Hey what the hell was with that lie Bri?" Damon yelled before him and Josh appeared around the corner.

"Damon now isn't the time, Dri honestly needs me for girl talk. I promise the three of you can drive me to the airport and we can talk about the lie." Bri responded and Damon looked at me.

"If Bri says we can take her tomorrow then I will you then, I promise."

"Alright, are you alright?"

"Yeah it's nothing big, just girl issues I need Bri's advice on." I gave them both a small smile and they eventually left leaving me alone with Bri.

"Come on Dri, how is this a bad thing?" Bri spoke as soon we knew the boys were gone.

"Because he has to be lying, it hasn't been that long. He can't know if he loves me."

"So what? You haven't heard of love at first sight? Dri those first five years you spent with the humans, you must have been told fairy tales. You know that ones that include prince charming's and as soon as they make eye contact with the girl they fall in love, or they fall in love with the first kiss."

"That's a fairy tale, not real life."

"So what? It must come from somewhere, someone somewhere must believe in love at first sight. Why don't you believe that Nik can't be in love with you this early?"

"Because my future is a mess, we have no idea what is involved in my future because of the Spirit in me. I don't want to pull him into that mess," tears silently fell down my cheeks as I told Bri what I was dreading.

I was dreading that it would become too real for Nik and he would panic and run at the idea of how messed up my life would be due to the Spirit.

"I know but yet has he said he doesn't want to help you find out?"

I didn't say anything in reply and Bri took my silence as the answer.

"If he hasn't said anything then how do you know he doesn't want to help you?"

"What if I'm just a big experiment to him, what if he's like everyone else and wants to know what is different about me."

"Dri he isn't Spencer, he won't panic at the first hiccup you have to face. He was a Guardian for two years before being sent to St Vladimir's, rumour has it he had killed 5 Strigoi in those two years."

"It was actually 7 but that's not the point." I mumbled and she glared at me for interrupting her rant.

"Your right the actual number isn't, Dri the point is he has been in many positions where has to remain calm and not panic. He has the self-restraint needed to be the best Guardian, he also has the calm, patient manner I believe he needs to have to deal with you. I've said this before Dri, I honestly believe he is the perfect match for you with your tornado like personality. Where is this fear coming from?" she spoke softly, pleading with me to tell her what was going on.

"I might be pregnant…" I whispered and she stared at me.

"Who did you have sex with?"

I shook my head, "you can't tell the boys. Promise me you won't tell the boys?"

"I promise now what is going on, you're scaring me."

"There are rumours that the Spirit has changed me enough that I can fall pregnant to a dhampir, we got told this rumour after Nik and I already had sex and of course we didn't use protection because what two dhampirs would think to use protection when they assume they can't get pregnant"

Bri didn't say anything, honestly I had no idea what she could have said to ease my fears. I knew she was trying to process what I said, I could get pregnant to a dhampir and it changed everything for our races.

"You're afraid he's saying he loves you in case you're pregnant or you're afraid that if you do turn out to be pregnant he'll run and leave you broken hearted?" I nodded, I had thought about both of those options at one point or another and I was terrified they were going to come true.

"What if he does leave me? I don't want to lose him."

"I know but you don't know if it's going to happen, he may want children. Him saying he loves you may not have anything to do with how you may be pregnant. Dri you may not even be pregnant, you said yourself it's just a rumour, it may not be true."

All I did was shake my head as the tears escaped that bit faster completely blurring my vision and it wasn't long until I felt Bri's arms around and she had pulled me close against her and I muttered, "I can't lose him."


	44. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

Adrianna POV

"Dri open this door," I ignored Nik and continued sit on the floor by the door.

He had followed me home from the café where I had lunch with James and some of his friends that were at Court for the summer. When I convinced Emily to go and befriend him I didn't realise she had taken my advice and they were all close friends.

James had become close friends with Emily and Stefan as well as another friend of theirs who I think was an Ozera from memory, I don't know. I've always been bad at names.

I wasn't technically working yet and James wanted me to meet his friends because he believed at one point, they would be my friends as well but hey I was happy for the escape from my apartment.

A week ago the last of my friends left and I didn't know what to do with myself, I was devastated after Bri left because I wouldn't have her there when I needed her.

On the way to the airport we told the boys the truth behind my placement at Court and they took it just like they usually do when it came to Spirit, they nodded and said yeap sounds good. God those two were such typical boys, if we didn't tell them something they got all funny but when we did tell them or got around to telling them they didn't care. They acted like it wasn't that big of a thing.

I was being the worst girlfriend, could I even call myself his girlfriend since we hadn't had that conversation but hey after my silence towards him over the past three weeks maybe he didn't want anything to do with me anymore.

I knew I should have taken Bri's advice and talked to him about what was bothering me but I couldn't and not having her here to make sure I did as she said made it easier to ignore her requests.

"I know you're in there, I have no idea why you've been ignoring me. At first I thought it was because I actually scared you off, then I thought it was because Bri left and then I tried telling myself it was because the rest of your friends would be leaving soon but now, now I don't know what I'm telling myself. Your friends have been gone for a week and you still aren't talking to me, please Dri what have I done wrong. Tell me so I can fix it."

My heart broke at how hurt and devastated he sounded, Nik never seemed like the type to bear his heart and soul in front of possible strangers that could be walking in that hallway.

I slowly stood up and made my way towards the door, I hesitated before opening it and I was shocked at how upset he actually looked. I suspected he would have his mask up and hide behind it.

"Is this a good sign?" He spoke softly and I nodded before stepping forward and putting my arms around him.

I may have been scared about losing him and his true reasons behind saying he loved me, but I hated that I was pulling away from him and ignoring him, it was slowly killing me.

Nik instantly wrapped his arms around me before directing us back inside my apartment and closed the door behind us.

He pulled away and cupped my face forcing me to look at him, "what's going on? Why have you been ignoring me?"

"Why did you tell me you love me?"

"Because I do."

"Why?" I questioned and I knew I shouldn't have, who the hell questions why someone loves them.

"Because I love the way you are, if you had told me a year ago that I would be in love you I would have laughed. You are completely wrong for me, you don't think before you act, you just go off and do it and worry about the repercussions afterwards. You've made me realise that sometimes plunging deep into something is sometimes the only way to do it, I can't plan every little detail of my life and you are proof of that, you help remind me of that.

Dri I love the way you are, you are fiercely protective of your friends and family and you would do anything for them no questions asked. There are also the little things you do, the way you scrunch your face up when you're confused or when you're lying to protect someone's feelings. I love you as a whole and I would never want to change a thing about you, especially the fact that you have Spirit in you. It makes you different and exciting, it adds a whole new element into my life and I can't wait to see how that changes."

I stared at him, my heart melted at that statement. I did not expect a response from him, I expect him to brush the question off and ask what happened and why I reacted the way I did.

"I panicked, I didn't know if you were telling me you loved me because I could be pregnant and it was the right thing to do and I panicked in case I was pregnant and you took off because I can't lose you."

"I already told you that if you were pregnant I would be here no matter what, me loving you just solidifies that. I didn't say I love you expecting a response, you have to know that. I didn't expect a response from you and honestly I didn't mean for it to come out in that way with you half asleep making a joke about me loving how you're a goofball."

"It's too much too fast Nik," I attempted to shake my head but his grip was too tight. "I don't even know if I'm your girlfriend."

"I know and I know our relationship is a little backwards but I do want you as my girlfriend, nothing changes Dri. Please remember that, nothing changes."

"I'm sorry for ignoring you," I spoke before burying my face against his chest breathing in his scent that I had so missed in the last three weeks.

"It's fine, you're young and I should have known you well enough to know that you would panic considering what happened with Spencer," he softly stroked my head and we fell into a comfortable silence standing like that.

"Please tell me you don't have plans tonight." He finally spoke breaking the silence and I was instantly annoyed at myself.

"I do, Clary and I aren't technically working so we promised James and his friends we would attend one of their parties…"

"Hey, it's fine. I'll just have to have you all to myself tomorrow." He grinned at me before leaning down and pressing his lips against mine and my god have I missed this.

"I would love that Nik and I also have some good news, I'm not pregnant." I smiled at him and laughed at shock went across his face.

It was last week after my friends had left and I was finally having my chance to catch up with Zoya before she left, but I knew she would be back. Her Moroi spent most of the year at Court but that still didn't excuse either of us from ignoring each other.

She was family and knew about the Spirit being in me, especially Zoya and Olena because they had a Spirit user has a neighbour and we all stayed in contact. So when I told her about the rumour and about how I could potentially be pregnant she dragged me by the arm until we found a shop that sells pregnancy tests.

I was thrilled at seeing it show that I wasn't pregnant but I had no idea what Nik would think, I had no idea if he would be happy or devastated that I was pregnant.

"Dri as much I love you right now isn't the time for us to have kids, our relationship is too new and we don't even know what will happen when people find out we're together or even worse that I'm the father of your child. We need to take it all one step at a time and at your pace, I don't want to scare you off."

"You're going to keep saying I love you aren't you?" I raised an eyebrow at him and a small chuckle left his lips.

"I am because it's true, I love you." I shook my head at him but I couldn't get rid of the smile I had.

It was later that night and Clary and I were heading to the house with the party was being held, I was particularly surprised that it was at this Moroi's house. He was the same one that held all the parties last summer, I just assumed he was going into his senior year like me not like James, Emily and Stefan.

"I don't know anyone that is going to be there, why am I going again?" Clary complained but I just shook my head at her antics.

"Because we aren't technically working yet, the 'children' are throwing a party and we were invited, why not go?"

"But you know everyone that will be there."

"No not everyone, I'm older than them."

"But you grew up at Court, surely you will recognise the faces." At this point Clary had stopped walking and I stopped to face her, I just hoped she wouldn't back out of this.

"True but not the point, come on it won't be that bad. Surely you attended parties at your academy?"

"Yes Dri but you are forgetting how small I said my academy was, it wasn't like yours. We couldn't throw big parties because we didn't have that many students." I keep forgetting that not all of the academies were big like St Vladimir's, St Vladimir's was the biggest in the country because of its top ranking and top ranked Guardians.

"Please Clary, just because I will recognise faces doesn't mean I will know them. Let's just go get drunk, dance and have some fun because come Monday morning we effectively start as Guardians, we have our first shift on the Courts rotation and we begin whatever testing your mum and my dad want done on us." I pleaded with her and then she grinned at me.

"Fine only because I think we will need this night because I have a feeling the plans they have for us include hunting trips."

I grinned at her, I was strangely looking forward to these hunting trips. I've seen Strigoi before, I knew how dangerous they could be but yet I was looking forward to doing my part by eradicating them from existence in hopes of securing the safety of our races.

"You made it!" a very drunk Stefan exclaimed when we entered the party and I wondered just how late we were or how early our new friends had started drinking.

I laughed at him before leaning over and giving him a hug, I was always fond of Emily and Stefan and I was enjoying one last chance to party with them considering I ditched the parties last Christmas.

"I told you I would come didn't I? Now where is the alcohol?" he grinned at me before looping an arm through mine and pulled me through the house, looking over my shoulder I could see Clary following us.

"Alright now you need to do exactly five shots to catch up with us," I groaned in response but took the shots.

I knew I would get a disappointing look from Nik tomorrow when he sees how hungover I am but I also knew he wouldn't ask many questions, well he had to from now on since most of the Court kids' parties were thrown by high ranking Moroi.

I looked over Clary and see eyed the alcohol, "come on it won't bite and tomorrow we can spend the day in front of the T.V. It will be fine, I promise."

She nodded and took the shot from Stefan and it wasn't long until we were all doing shots in sync, getting incredibly drunk.

It was hours later and I had lost sight of Clary, I felt so guilty. I was distracted catching up with Stefan and Emily since it had been forever since I've spoken with both of them but somehow Clary had gotten lost after stating she was going to look for some water.

I ended up searching the house for her but happened to find her sound asleep outside on one of the benches in the backyard.

"Come on, let's get you home." I spoke as I lifted Clary up hoping she was going to wake up and make it that bit easier on me carrying her back to my apartment.

After Bri had left Clary had moved into her room and out of the apartment she was sharing with her mother, I thought the relationship between the two of them was strange but then again I didn't have my mother around like she did.

Clary mumbled something in response and began walking on her own and I was thankful, I might have been able to hold her up but it was incredibly awkward walking with someone like this. I don't know how Nik managed to do it on the few occasions he had found me completely drunk at one of the academy parties.

We were almost at the apartment complex and were standing in the clearing, I had to stop because I was getting dizzy and Clary claimed she had to throw up so I let her.

But while I was standing there trying to straighten the world out a hand came out and was placed around my mouth and it was seconds later I felt a prick in my neck and the world went black.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	45. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

Nikolaus POV

I was worried, far too worried about something that would seem so irrelevant to anyone else. There was a part of me hoping that maybe I just scared her off again, or she was still asleep from the party last night at someone else's house, but it was with those thoughts that I was worried about her loyalty to me. I had to shake those thoughts off, I trusted Dri and I couldn't question that now.

Dri told me yesterday before she left for the party that today I could have her to myself because three weeks without being able to see her, hold her or even touch her were hard. I thought the hardest time I had was when both of our feelings had been revealed and we weren't able to do anything, no this was harder.

She never turned up, I figured she would have around lunch time again after sleeping off whatever alcohol she still had in her system and turn up hungover but when she didn't I wandered downstairs hoping she would be home but neither her nor Clary were.

I tried to ring her phone but no answer, it didn't even dial it just cut out straight away which increased my worry even more. Dri was a teenage girl, a teenage girl who was obsessed with her phone.

I had witnessed some instances where she had left her room in the dorm and she spent the whole time of our sessions distracted, as if she would miss some important bit of information.

I tried to get in contact with Rose and Dimitri first in hopes they could possibly tell me where Dri would be hiding, if we were still at St Vladimir's I wouldn't need the help I knew all of her hiding spots but Court was huge and I was new here. But Rose and Dimitri turned out to be working for the day and I was unable to get in contact with them without requesting access to the Queens royal building.

My last resort was finding Adrian and I just hoped he was at home and not off wherever he may go during his summer here. I knew he had a student out here in hopes of them all learning more about Spirit and I wouldn't get in the way off that in case they find something in regards to Dri but as I said, I'm worried.

"Nik what are you doing here?" Ellie spoke when she opened the door.

"I'm looking for Dri, does she happen to be here. She isn't answering her phone."

"No she isn't I'm sorry, but the fact that she isn't answering her phone isn't a good sign. Come in and I will see if Adrian is still here." Ellie stepped aside and allowed me to follow but we didn't get far as Adrian came rushing out from behind a corner.

"I'm sorry Ellie, it seems as though there was a breach last night and Lissa wants my help to quickly redo the wards." Adrian kissed Ellie's cheek and it was then he noticed me standing. "Nik, I didn't expect to see you in my house."

"I can't seem to get a hold of Dri and I was hoping she would be here, but did you say there was a security breach last night?" I spoke and it only took seconds for a flash of realization to cross Adrian's face.

"Where was she last night?"

"She said something about a party with Mr Lazar and his friends at Court, she had convinced Clary to go with her."

Adrian didn't say anything in replied he just pulled his phone out, I had no idea who he was calling but we were now all taking this serious.

Most people would think we are overreacting at Dri's disappearance but not everyone knew about the creepy emails she had been receiving on and off for a couple of years now. I also know she happened to receive one not long before we had left St Vladimir's.

I didn't hear the conversation taking place with Adrian on the phone since he had walked away from where Ellie and I were standing.

"We will find her, I'm sure she is just hiding somewhere on the grounds. She's done this before," Ellie spoke sincerely, I looked at her and just hoped she was right.

"But has there been a breach the same time she's disappeared before?" a small frown appeared on her face.

"No there hasn't, but we have to be hopeful. If we lose hope, we lose our drive and determination to find what we are looking for." I nodded at her as Adrian walked back towards us.

"Follow me," was all he said, I was a little stunned at the coldness in his voice but followed him none the less and it was only moments later we arrived at the Royal building.

Both Rose and Dimitri met us in one of the hallways, they didn't say anything as Adrian continued to lead us through the maze of hallways and it wasn't long before we entered what looked like a study.

I had heard from Dri that Adrian and the Queen used one of the rooms in the Royal building as their study room for everything regarding Spirit and now her.

"What is going on Adrian, things are a mess and I've got so much to deal with I don't have time for whatever it is you've got going on?" Queen Vasilisa entered the room looking slightly annoyed in Adrian's direction.

Did everyone in this room trust each other enough that they would turn up without a moment's hesitation? I thought he had told them about what happened with Dri, but yet it seems as though they all turned up without the knowledge of what's going on.

"It seems as though Dri is missing, no one can get a hold of her. I'm worried with last night's breach in security and those emails she was receiving, none of it sits right."

"Who was she with last night?" Rose questioned and everyone looked at me assuming I was the one who started all of this.

"She told me she was going to a party with some of the current novices, I believe Clary and James were also in attendance." I responded.

"Where's Clary? Has anyone gotten a hold of her or Eliza?" Ellie questioned and Adrian quickly pulled his phone out to make a phone call as he was leaving us alone in the room.

"Nik's what's going?" Rose spoke as her and Dimitri made their way over to me.

"I was with Dri yesterday afternoon, I asked if I could have her for the night since I hadn't seen much of her but she said she already promised to go to the party so I let it slide. I didn't even question it, I didn't see the point, I just let her go off with her friends and have fun. But all of this aside she promised I could have today with her."

"But she never turned up?" I nodded in agreement with Dimitri, he looked at Rose before turning away from me.

"We'll find her Nik, for all we know Dri and some of the other Court kids have taken off. This wouldn't be the first time they've gone on joy rides." Rose attempted to give me a reassuring smile before the two of them left the room and I just hoped it was something to find Dri they were doing.

But I couldn't believe that Rose just told me Dri had once gone on a joy ride with a few of the other kids here at Court way back when, I would love the opportunity to question her about it and why she and her friends thought it would be a good idea, but then again I suppose it just proves how much Dri doesn't think anything through just jumps straight into it.

But before anyone could say anything else on the topic of Dri's disappearance we were all startled by someone hastily opening the doors.

"Seriously what the fuck am I doing here at this time of the morning, I'm hungover as…" we all looked at Mr Lazar as he entered the room and his eyes went wide when he realised just who exactly was in this room. "What's going on? I thought Adrian and Queen Vasilisa needed my help replacing the wards, mind you I don't know what good I would be anyway?" he spoke hesitantly and it was then everyone seemed to realise the same thing at the same time.

A variety of questions were all launched at him at once, we all pretty much asked the same thing at the same time, when did Dri leave the party?

"Woah, calm down. I'm having an incredibly hard time concentrating on anything, I'm hungover and everyone's emotions are running wild."

"James what are you…oh right, I'm sorry I forgot I called you but something's come up and the wards may have to wait." Adrian had walked back into the room with a very anxious looking Moroi and something tells me it was Clary's mother.

"What's going on?" James looked around at all of us, I had been filled in on his abilities and I knew Spirit was affected by alcohol but would it still be affected the following morning when he was hungover?

"The reason I first rang you was because there was a breach in security last night and the four of us were going to work together to quickly replace the wards with other Moroi that were at Court but now we believe something has happened to Dri and Clary. We are just waiting on information regarding last night security footage."

"But they were at the party with us last night, this morning when I woke up to your phone call I just thought maybe they left earlier because technically they are Guardians and not novices." James responded in shock, he like the rest of us all assumed Court was the safest place on earth for our kind.

"But no one knows when they left James, we all know Dri, sometimes she runs late but she has never forgotten about plans or stood someone up." Ellie spoke and it was then I realised something, they all knew just how serious this was.

To begin with I thought I was insane and no one would believe me, but they had all been saying what they were not to just reassure me, but themselves as well.

James nodded and the ringing of Adrian's phone cut the silence, he answered but didn't respond after that. He listened for as long as needed before hanging up.

"James go home, we weren't planning on letting anyone outside of us know what was going on but I completely spaced. I promise I will tell you what is going on at a later stage, Ellie I need you to be at home with the boys." Adrian softly kissed Ellie's cheek before turning and facing Clary's mother and myself.

At some point Queen Vasilisa had left not saying anything, but she was also queen and didn't have too.

"You two follow me," I was a little hesitant at first, I had no idea what was going and I had no idea if I wanted to know but in the end I did as Adrian suggested and follow him down another set of maze like hallways before entering a room that held a wall full of monitor's showing the many aspects of Court.

"Bring it up Rose," Adrian spoke harshly and I couldn't help but notice the look she sent but did as he requested.

Rose played with some keys on the bench before all the monitor's changed showing the one image, Dri and Clary. Well more so Dri attempting to carry a half unconscious Clary, I knew how difficult it could be since I've done with Dri on numerous occasions.

We all stood there watching what was going on, even as it changed following the change of cameras up until they stopped in one of the many clearings at Court. I was filled with rage as I watched someone Dri came up behind her and put a needle in her neck injecting her with something.

Once Dri was unconscious they moved on to Clary and when they were both unconscious we then had to watch as both Dri and Clary were literally walked straight off the grounds through the front gate, fulling my anger even more.

"How the hell did they get through the front gates like that?" I growled but Rose didn't say anything as she brought up another feed on the monitor's that showed the Guardians manning the front gates get shot with something.

"It was just a tranquiliser, they must have been over dosed because the next shift turned up and they were still out cold. We tried following the two men who had shot them but all they did was aimlessly walk around the grounds not doing anything, if you notice they aren't the same men who took Dri and Clary. The only reason we found the footage was because we were following Dri."

"So they were working together?" said Adrian.

"My poor baby…" Eliza sobbed out. "I need some air." She spoke softly before leaving us alone in the room.

"Do we have any clue as to who the men who took them are though?" Adrian questioned.

"No, we both admit they look familiar but we can't place a name to their faces. They certainly aren't royal and so many people have been here since the beginning of summer because of the new Guardians. It happens every year, the only thing we can be think of is this mysterious B person that was sending those emails to Dri."

"Dimitri's right, we can't even follow those men because we lose them in the footage. Everyone knows that not every corner of Court is under watch by the cameras and it's usually the teenagers who work it out so we have to be grateful that Dri didn't take one of those paths last night like she has in the past."

"So what do we do now? I know normally we always assume that kidnappings are always by Strigoi and who it was that was taken would either be dead or turned but it's clear as day that those two men aren't Strigoi." I questioned, Rose and Dimitri looked at each other before looking back at the monitors.

"We don't know, we can't think of anything else that has happened like this. The only thing I can think of is this B person, he stated he knew what Dri was and obviously wants her for something but that is something we don't know." Rose spoke before she turned back to the monitor's playing with the keys turning the monitor's back to their multiple images and they all began rewinding through time.

"We just have to hope we find something, a lead or find someone that knows who they are and hope that leads us to Dri and Clary."

I stood there stunned, my heart breaking a little more with each passing second. Was what we had enough to find Dri? A mystery man no one could put a name to?

I turned and left before any of them could see me break down at the thought of losing Dri, I finally get the chance to have Dri with no rules separating us and even better we have the chance to actually be together physically for at least 12 months.


	46. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

Adrianna POV

"Dri wake up!" I heard Clary's voice as she was shaking me in attempts to wake me up.

I felt like crap and wanted to sleep as long as possible before I had to go and meet Nik, I promised I would spend the day with him but he also knew I had a party last night and had to have known that I would be hungover today.

"Go away," I grumbled before grabbing my pillow and rolling over but it was then I realised something.

This wasn't my pillow, Ellie had gotten me into the habit of washing my sheets in lavender scented soap and my sheets always smelt like lavender but this didn't smell like lavender.

I shot straight up in the bed and looked around, nothing looked familiar. Even looking out the window I couldn't even tell you where I was, nothing looked the same. Just a lush green scenery.

"Dri are you alright? You took forever to wake up," Clary spoke carefully, I nodded as I twisted around on the bed to face her.

"Are you?"

"I am, what happened? Last night is a bit of a haze for me."

"I'm not too sure, I remember attempting to carry you home, but after that I'm not too sure. Has anyone come by yet?"

"No, I just want to go home." Clary complained has her eyes welled up and I felt sorry for her, I wanted to go home as well but she looked absolutely devastated at the thought of not going home.

"This is your home now," we both jumped at the strange voice and we turned to find two Moroi men standing there.

They both looked familiar but for all I knew I had seen them around Court, there had been so many people at Court over the last few weeks.

"You know this is kidnapping, you can't drug us and take us wherever you please." I hissed at them but the smug smiles didn't leave their faces, they didn't even seem phased at the way I spoke to them.

"But my dear you are mine and you belong to me, I've told you this before on many occasions."

"You must B then?" I couldn't believe this, all those times I thought the emails were just a joke here he is actually standing in front of me. I looked over at Clary and she didn't looked scared anymore, I was thankful her mask was up.

"It's Bradley my dear, be sure to remember that."

"Does that make you C?" Clary spoke looking at the other man but all he did was nod.

"You know you won't get away with this, my family will find us or are you forgetting who my family is?"

"They won't find you Adrianna, we made sure we thought of everything in hopes of them never finding us here. Now let's get you two in separate rooms to prevent any mishaps." He spoke before opening the door and a dhampir came in.

At first I had no idea what he planned but when the strange dhampir came in my direction I attempted to jump off the bed in hopes of fighting him but all that happened was me getting dizzy and the room begun spinning, I guess there was still some drugs in my system.

He roughly gripped my arm and pulled me from the room, I tried to fight against his grip but all it seemed to do was cause him to lay a punch in my face and I automatically dropped in his hands and he threw me over his shoulder.

I wanted to pass out, the pain was unbearable but I needed to stay awake and keep track of where he was taking me. My only hope was that neither of us got moved from our rooms and one day I could escape, I could escape and find Clary and get us the hell out of this house and from there we can figure out how to get home.

I managed to make it to what would now be my room but I managed to pass out before I even hit the bed.

I honestly wasn't an expecting a Spirit dream though, I doubt I've even been gone long enough for them to realise I was taken. Nik is probably furious that I'm skipping out on him after everything that's happened and my family, well this wouldn't be the first time I've disappeared after a party at Court.

"I didn't expect this to work," I heard the muttered voice and I spun around to find James standing there.

"Why?"

"For one it's the middle of the day and two I'm incredibly hung over from last night, where the hell are you. Your family is going crazy, the only reason I know is because Adrian rang me asking for help with the wards but forgot to ring me and tell me not to worry, so I turned up into the Spirit room to find everyone standing there trying to work out where the hell you are."

I blinked at James, if he was right and the party was last night how was it my family realised I'm missing when it hasn't even been 24 hours. Normally it takes them longer than that before I get the numerous amount of phone calls demanding me to come home. But what I couldn't work out was why they wanted his help with the wards.

I shook my head at him, "I don't know where I am, I know Clary is with me but that's it. How do they know I'm gone and why did they need your help with the wards?"

"Apparently there was a security breach and they want to replace them all just in case, normally they can't do it but for once there is four Spirit users at Court. Do you know what happened?"

"No, all I remember is attempting to carry Clary back to our room and then I woke up here. Oh wait tell dad that the B person emailing me has me, he says his name is Bradley and he has a friend with him that Clary referred to as C and there is at least one Guardian. That's all I can tell you." My eyes welled up, it was in that moment when I realised I couldn't tell James anything that was actually helpful in the hopes that my family will find me.

"Hey, it will be okay. Your family is incredibly resourceful, I'm sure they will find you in due time…hey what happened there." James gripped my chin and tilted my head while the other hand touched my cheek where I was punched and I winced in pain.

"I tried to fight against the dhampir, Guardian whatever he is and he just punched me in hopes of shutting me up. It's why I'm asleep, I passed out from the pain."

"You'll be fine, I should go find Adrian tell him what you just told me. Just don't lose hope," He gave me a smile as the dream disappeared and I couldn't help but worry.

Adrian POV

I was sitting in the Spirit room with Eliza, we were going over every single bit of Spirit related information we had in hopes of trying to figure out why someone would take Dri and Clary while the Guardians tried to work out who took them.

We had been in there for hours, not sure of anything we were finding. Everything was just related to Spirit users, not their dhampir children.

I had thrown a book against the wall when the door opened and it revealed James, I completely forgot I was going to fill him in. That kid was to god damn nosy for his own good and I always wondered if it was because of his abilities.

"I managed to reach Adrianna in a dream in your interested." I was given the smallest bit of hope, if he had managed reach Dri then it means she's still alive.

"Of course I'm interested, what did she tell you, where is she, who took her, is she alright..."

"Adrian calm down." James cut me off and I narrowed my eyes at him.

I always insisted that my students called me Adrian so our relationship was that bit friendlier because sometimes the time in the classroom became too close for comfort in regards to a typical student/teacher relationship. James was the one that regularly pushed those boundaries, but that was only because of his abilities.

James was getting shown a piece of myself and my life by learning how to control his abilities by focusing on mine, I had put my trust him in when it comes to my life and he already knew my biggest secret before I even let him in my head. Because the truth came out as soon as he first laid eyes on Dri, I couldn't even get to him before he spotted her but at the time Spencer was fiercely protective over her and I'm just glad he was able to say something before my first session with James the following morning.

"What do you know James?"

"Both her and Clary are together, she doesn't know where she is or even remember what happened last night but she said to tell someone named B has her. Who is this B person anyway?" Eliza broke down in tears again.

I was devastated that my daughter was taken as well but I also knew I had to keep it all together in hopes of finding Dri, I knew I couldn't find her in I was breaking down at every bit of information coming my way. Eliza would be no help if she was constantly breaking down.

"Eliza go home and get some rest, you aren't any help like this." Eliza nodded before gathering up the books she was leafing through and leaving James and I alone.

"She's alive, that has to be something. If they wanted her dead wouldn't they have left the bodies?" James spoke as he walked over and took a seat at the table before looking over the open books.

"We don't think they want Clary and Dri dead James, for the last couple of years both Dri and Clary have been receiving emails from unknown people. Dri's is this B person she mentioned and Clary had someone who referred to himself as C, the emails always stated that they knew what they were and that they belonged to them.

It wasn't until Dri's graduation that the wording changed, it stated that he would be coming for Dri and she would finally be his. None of us ever thought something would happen while she was at Court, it's partly why we hoped you would agree to have her as your Guardian since it guaranteed her place at Court while we figured it out."

"You also never believed it was more than one person after Dri," he spoke carefully without looking up at me, I completely forgot how easy information comes to him from me.

He's stated in the past that anyone with the slightest bit of Spirit in them allows him to easily access their memories, he can't explain it properly but it's almost like the Spirits detect each other and grant access because of it.

"No, we didn't. Not until Clary mentioned her emails anyway, then we just assumed maybe the two of them were working together but now we think there is at least four, or the other two were hired to do what they did."

"Do you have any idea as to what they want with them?"

I shook my head at first, it's why I've spent all day in here with these stupid books hoping to find anything that could explain something we didn't already think of. Every bit of rumour we have come across hasn't allowed us to imagine why someone would kidnap the two of them, the rumours only affected their life, no one else's.

"The only thing we can of is it has to be Spirit, why else take those two and they obviously need them alive."

"What if it's not them, what if they want their blood?" I stared at James, he has never once said anything in the past about knowing anything in regards to Dri,

"What are you trying to say James?" I narrowed at my eyes at him.

"My great grandfather was alive until I was about 10, at the time I believed him to be an old coot but I still listened eagerly to his tales. He used to always tell me about how special I was, about how one day I'm going to vital in helping the future of my races. I never understood what he meant I'm still not 100% sure to this day.

Anyway, he used to go on about how special I was and one day I would meet someone even more special than me. I always just assumed he was talking about whoever I was meant to marry but he would talk about how she would have a golden glow around her but not the normal glow I was used too.

He told me to protect her, that she was very special and there would be people who would want her dead for they feared her or other people believed they could change the future and they wanted to be a part of it.

He said that her blood would be special, it would grant the drinker immortal life but at the expense of her life. He always told me I had to protect her as much as she had to protect me because he didn't want to see any of those immortal creatures running around."

"James what are you talking about?" none of what he just said made sense to me, what was he going on about.

"At the time I just thought he was an old man who had interesting theories but as I got older and was told I was Spirit user, I now believe he was a Spirit user as well. I also believe his main ability was to see the future, it's why he kept telling me over and over I had to protect the girl with the golden glow that was different to others. I haven't come across many Spirit users but I've come across enough to assume he was talking about Dri."

"Is that why you agreed to have her as your Guardian?"

"Partly, the other part was I am curious about the testing, I want to know how different she will be in case I do have children just like her."

"What about the blood thing?"

"Without putting it as lightly as he had, I believe that if a Moroi completely drains someone like Dri or Clary of their blood they will become Strigoi but with a difference. They keep all their Moroi traits, their magic, the ability to walk in the sun and a silver stake won't burn them upon touch like it would a normal Strigoi."

I just stared at James, there was no way in hell that could be true.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	47. Chapter 46

**A/N: Before everyone reads this chapter I want to explain something, I have already written chapters on a kidnapping with Dri and her family trying to find her. I was planning on completely jumping right ahead to her rescue but I couldn't bring myself to do it since there is somethings that need to be covered. Instead I'm going to briefly cover it, covering various things. There will be a chapter from Dri and Clary's POV with another covering everyone else at Court showing the two different sides, both chapters will run simultaneously through time. Hopefully everyone likes the way I've done this.**

 **Chapter 46**

Adrianna POV

 _1 Week_

I've been gone a week, or at least I think it's been a week. Too be honest I have no idea, to begin with I had a window and now I don't.

I fell asleep one night and when I woke up the next morning I was in a completely different room, my window was gone and I had no way of monitoring the days. I had no watch, no clock, even the T.V I had access to didn't tell me the time.

The one thing I did know for sure was that they were drugging my food, there would be nights where I passed out before even finishing my meal, if they could be called meals anyway.

I didn't even know if I was still just a down the hallway from Clary, I was worried. What if something happened to her, I don't know if I could handle that.

I haven't even seen anyone, I was starting to go stir crazy. I didn't even know why dad or James hadn't come to visit me in a dream, I would have thought they would have or was it too hard for them since I couldn't give them any more information on my situation.

I was sitting there in the corner of the room staring at a blank wall when the door clicked opened, I quickly stood up hoping it would be a Moroi that entered and I could over power them but it was that Guardian that hit me across the face.

He came straight towards me and I tried so hard to fight him off but it didn't work, I didn't have the energy from the lack of food. I was weaker than him and it didn't take long for him to have me pinned on the bed with my hands above my head.

I was worried that something really bad was going to happen, I panicked but then the door opened again causing me to panic even more. I couldn't see anything with my face pushed into the sheets.

I felt a dip beside me and my hair was softly moved off my neck and it was moments later I felt a sharp pain in my neck and I realised what was happening, they were feeding off me.

I tried to fight against them but it became useless as the drugs from the Moroi bite started flowing through my system. I had never taken drugs before, but this had to be the high the feeders were always after and this point in time I had to agree with them.

They left all too quickly and I was left alone in the room to wait for the high to come down.

Clary POV

 _4 weeks_

I think it was after two weeks here I stopped looking in any reflective surface, I couldn't take it.

The bruises were constant, a constant reminder of the fact that I probably wouldn't be going home. I hated that even though I hated looking at myself and knowing who and how the bruises were caused, I also eagerly awaited the moment he would come back and feed from me.

I always scoffed when I heard feeders talking about how good the high was and why they willingly handed themselves over to be fed off but now, living it and knowing what it was like, I understood.

My window had also disappeared a week in, forcing me to lose track of the number of days I was stuck here.

The longer I was here the more I thought that maybe they wanted to kill me and the longer it went on the more I hoped they just got it over with.

 _6 weeks_

The screams won't stop, they've been going on for a week. No matter how hard I try they won't go away.

I've got no idea if it's Dri their torturing or if there is more than Dri and myself locked in this house. If there is someone else, then it's just more people in this house.

The more people there is in this house, the harder it is to escape because it means I have to try and get past more people to get out of here.

At least I had a visit from my mother last night, I was so happy to see her. We both literally broke down in tears at the sight of each other.

She didn't have any information for me and I didn't have anything for her, none that she didn't already know from someone visiting Dri but I was just glad I was able to see her and ease her worries.

I've told her about the screams and about how I worry if it's Dri that's screaming but she just shook her head at me and told me it wasn't Dri, that Adrian had visited Dri the previous night and she stated she was worried about the screaming as well and it's why my mother visited me.

I knew my mother had seen my bruising and I was just glad she didn't question them, she had to have known what they were from.

I loved my mother and for her sake after everything we've been through I hope I make it home for her.

Adrianna POV

 _8 weeks_

Three weeks, it took three weeks for the screams to stop and I was worried. Does it mean it's all over for us?

I ended up calculating the days by when I went to sleep, I don't care if it didn't match up with real time or not. If I woke up from either falling asleep naturally or being drugged I would put a mark in the wall and there is currently 56 marks in the wall, that has to be 8 weeks right?

Anyway the screaming stopped yesterday, I don't know how they managed to go on this long but now it was too quiet and I almost missed the screaming. No one had come back and told me if it was Clary or not and I was worried.

Normally when someone shuts up it's because they were forced too, so is the screamer dead or gagged?

I was worried that no one had come back to me since I last saw dad, but there was a part of me telling me that my sleeping pattern wasn't normal, that my days weren't the same length of time but I pushed that part away and just hoped that either dad or James would be back soon enough.

 _9 weeks_

I was currently lying on the bed, everything was a little hazy. I had just been given what I thought was a plain chocolate milkshake and I knew it was too good to be true.

I thought the milkshake was a reward, I stopped fighting them. I began letting Bradley do what he pleased with me in hopes of either letting me go or killing me quicker. I was wrong, there was a drug in the milkshake and now it was in me.

The drug wasn't strong enough to knock me unconscious but it's enough to make me easier to overcome.

The door opened and I moved my gaze to see Bradley enter holding a dress, if I wasn't here I would be shocked at the sight of the dress it was stunning but I had limited dresses in my closest since Guardians don't get to wear them very often

"Here put this on, we're all having lunch outside. It's a lovely day and I think we've all deserved the treat. Don't forgot to shower and freshen up as well," he gave me a smile that only made me want to throw up.

I watched as he placed the dress over the arm chair and put a bag on the seat before leaving me alone. I had no idea when he would be coming back but I also have no idea if I would be able to stand long enough in the shower.

I carefully stood up and made my way over to see what was in the bag, it was actually proper bathroom supplies, not that crappy soap they had been supplying me with and there was make up in here as well but there was no way I would be putting make up on for him. I wouldn't be going against his word since he just told me to shower.

I had managed to stand up long enough for the shower and it was then I discovered that maybe I had been drugged with a sedative but I pushed that away.

I was allowed to go outside, I hoped I could scope the place out and find a way out and see Clary. I hoped I would be able to see Clary alive and well and hopefully the two of us could find a way out of here.

"Come on it's time to go Adrianna," I nodded at Bradley before pushing myself off the bed.

I hated the way he touched me, I couldn't handle it but I discovered how much easier things were when I let him have his way. The Guardians stopped beating me and there were less drugs in my food.

When we made it outside I was so glad to see Clary sitting there at the table, I even ignored just how warmer it was compared to what I thought it would be.

I went to walk over to her but Bradley gripped my arm tighter, "Nope don't even think about it, we will let the two of you talk from other ends of the table but we aren't letting you anywhere near each other." He pulled me towards the other end and forced me into the seat.

It was then I took in the scene and noticed just how many people were out here, there four Guardians posted in each corner of the courtyard watching us in case Clary and I tried to make a break for it.

I don't know what they were thinking about doing this, it gave both Clary and I the information we needed if we came up with an escape plan. This told us how many people were in the building and unless they switched my room I knew how to get outside if it was needed.

I don't know how to explain it but there was a moment when it felt as if everything went cold, it was like the sun was taken away from us but yet it was as bright as it was moments before.

"Ah, David I was wondering if you were planning on joining us today. I'm glad to see it all worked out perfectly." Clary's captive spoke and but I didn't dare turn around.

"Of course Clive, I did tell you both it would work. I just hope soon you will do what I did and the three of us can continue on with our plans."

I couldn't help it, I had to turn around. The voice sounded just as cold as the environment, but I was shocked with what I saw.

There was no way it was a Strigoi, we were out in the sun for fuck sakes. How the hell could someone look exactly like a Strigoi and be out here.

"My, my Bradley haven't you told your pet. She looks very stunned but yet Clive's pet doesn't." he spoke and I looked at Clary, she didn't looked shocked, just scared.

What the hell was going on?

"All in due time Clive, I'm having far too much fun with my pet." Bradley ran his fingers along my neck and it took all my will power not to pull away from him.

"I'm glad you are, mine wouldn't shut the hell up for three weeks and I had no choice. Now what is for lunch?"

So there was another girl here, that explains the Strigoi I haven't seen before but that still doesn't explain what he is doing out in the sun.

 _15 weeks_

It has been six weeks since that lunch outside and I still haven't been told anything about that bloody Strigoi, every time I try to ask Bradley about it he just says in due time before doing what he wants with me.

I've seen dad a couple of times but he wouldn't tell me anything about how their search for me was going, he just told me not to worry about it. My only worry would be to make sure I would be fine and that I made home in one piece.

The door slammed opened and I jumped in surprise, I twisted around to see who it was but it was just one of the nameless Guardians. I turned back to the T.V.

"Ow, what the hell?" I screeched as he gripped my arm way much tighter then I was used too.

Except he didn't say anything, he just continued to drag me down the hallways until we were in this large open space room and I noticed Clary standing on the other side with another Guardian gripping her arm.

I looked at her and she nodded in reply, I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding until then. I don't know how we came up with it since we haven't spoken much but a simple nod meant so much to each of us.

We had seen each other a couple of times over the last few weeks but weren't allowed to speak. We were able to nod at each other and it became our signal to inform each other that we were fine aside from the noticeable bruises each of us had.

"Ah my pet there you are," my stomach twisted as Bradley walked over and forced me to kiss him.

I had to force myself to keep the puke down, I've thrown up before and it just resulted in a beating. I couldn't take the beatings, I needed to be strong in hopes of getting out of here.

"Now my dear you have been asking a lot of questions and I think it's time I answer them, I know Clary's already been told and you have both seen the evidence to know that it works." Bradley spoke and no one said anything in response.

It was then the doors were slammed opened and that god damn Strigoi came strolling in, I panicked. Was he going to be the one to finally kill us?

"Now my pet, as you've been asking on many occasions how it is our lovely friend David here was able to go into the sun. Let me explain, you two beautiful ladies are special and not just because you are lucky enough to be ours but your blood is special. It was told that one day there would be dhampirs that contained Spirit in their blood and when they were completely drained of their blood by a Moroi that said Moroi would be turned into the most powerful Strigoi out there. The drinker would be immortal like Strigoi but yet we were able to keep all of our Moroi abilities."

I was in disbelief, there was no way this possible, right? Wouldn't the Guardians have any records of unstoppable Strigoi running in the world or were Clary and myself the first of our kind?

"Don't believe me my pet?" Bradley spoke and I was curious as to how it was going to be proved.

It was then I started having trouble breathing, it was like all the air was being sucked out of the room but looking around it seemed as though I was the only one having trouble breathing. If it wasn't for the Guardian holding my arm I probably would have collapsed to the ground and landed on my knees in hopes of getting more air in.

"David that's enough, I think she gets it. Adrianna, David here was an air user before he was turned. I myself was a fire user and Clive is a water user." He spoke and I don't know if I should believe him but it was then a ball of both fire and water appeared in the room and I had no choice but to believe what I was being told.

"If none of you are Spirit users, how did you find us and know what we were?" I spoke and just hoped it wouldn't cause a beating, I normally stayed quiet because when I spoke it wasn't approved of.

"Ah that, yes well we did have a fourth member. His name was Barry and he was the Spirit user, he spotted you when you were young and spotted Clary when she first visited Court but unfortunately something had happened and he was unable to join us but that will change, we will join him soon and we will help him take his pet."

A shiver went through my body, there was something telling me I wouldn't be getting the chance to meet this Barry and I just hoped for the sake of this other 'pet' they never find them.

"Please tell me I get to do this first," Clive spoke and my gaze instantly shot over to Clary and I couldn't help but think no over and over.

I was too busy looking at Clary that I must have missed something because the next thing I knew was that Clive had bit into Clary's neck and it wasn't long until her body dropped to the ground.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	48. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

Adrian POV

 _4 weeks_

"There has to be something Rose, there has to be something we are missing!" I yelled at her but all she did was continue to lean against the wall of my home office.

Dri and Clary had been missing for four weeks and we didn't have any leads, I couldn't bare myself to attempt to visit her in a dream. I felt guilty, I couldn't even protect my own daughter when we had this monster telling us that one day he will take her.

I did everything I could to try and protect Dri, I made she sure was at Court and that was meant to be the safest place on earth for our races but yet both of them were taken.

I still didn't know if I believed what James told me but there was something about it that made sense in a way. Although I didn't want it to be true because in a way it meant that eventually they would kill the girls in hopes of turning into this ultimate Strigoi.

"Dimitri and I have been trying everything Adrian, we've spent hours in front of those monitors and nothing. If they're meeting with anyone there are time gaps between both groups arriving and we can't match it up with anyone. Everyone at the cafes and restaurants just say they look familiar but can't recall anything in particular about them."

"What about where they are staying? We've discovered they've been at Court but where, surely someone else in the building can recognise them. You only get a house if you buy it on the grounds and currently we can contact everyone that owns a house on the grounds." I snapped at her.

Rose pushed herself off the wall before taking a seat at my desk. "Why don't you go to St Vladimir's, focus on teaching James and let us worry about finding Dri."

I shook my head at her, I couldn't. I knew there was no way I could spend my days at St Vladimir's away from the search with only James as my student, if any other Spirit users turn up they will contact me but James understands and we've been video conferencing when needed.

"I'm better off here, can't you work out where they were staying?" I pleaded with her.

"I will try but you have to know this could be another dead end." I nodded at Rose, not saying anything else and she took my silence as a reason to leave and I was left alone with my thoughts.

I placed my head in hands and just prayed we find Dri, I know Ashleigh might not still be alive but if ghosts could show themselves to anyone other than bonded people she would find a way and kill me for letting someone kidnap Dri.

Nikolaus POV

 _9 weeks_

I hated how I was still expected to turn up my rosters shifts, I was still expected to show that I was capable of being the decent Guardian I was before Dri was taken.

God damn it the girl I loved was taken and I had no idea if I would ever get her back.

I just wanted to be able to help Rose and Dimitri with their search, I knew they have had their duties removed so they can focus on the search but why couldn't I?

I loved Dri, I cared about Dri, why couldn't I help? Wouldn't a fresh set of eyes be beneficial to it all, maybe I could see something they missed?

Each question caused a harder punch at the punching bag and I just hoped for my sake this one didn't burst open like the last one. Croft wasn't happy when I was called into his office to explain how I had punched one of the bags so hard that it burst opened.

"Maybe you should lay off the bag?" I ignored the voice that belonged to Rose and kept going on the bag.

"Come on Nik, we've got some useful information."

"I don't see how it's any more useful than us finding out there is actually three of them being held captive." I spat back.

It was true, the last time Adrian visited Dri we were told there was constantly someone screaming and she was worried it was Clary, but Eliza visited Clary and said it wasn't Clary giving us the idea that there is a third person in there.

We searched through records and there is nothing showing that someone else has gone missing in the last few weeks, nothing is helping.

"The girls were allowed outside, we've got something to work with. Come on, come help us." I spun around and faced her, filled with anger.

"Oh so now I'm allowed to help am I?"

"Nik you don't have clearance for the monitors, there is a reason why they're in the royal building to begin with. We couldn't let you help if we wanted to, but this, this you can help with."

I didn't say anything, I just looked down at my hands and flexed my fingers. I noticed that the tape was starting to tear and I knew then and there that I should stop. I nodded at Rose before grabbing my stuff and following her.

Adrian POV

I know Rose went to go and get Nik's help but there was heaps we were keeping from him, hell there was heaps Eliza and I were keeping from everyone.

We decided not to tell the others what James told me, we decided not to tell the others that both of the girls were constantly covered in bruises from either beatings or being fed off.

But when Eliza visited Clary last night we were finally given a piece of new information, she told us about the Strigoi that could stand in the sun. Eliza panicked and I was silent, I didn't want James to be right, it wasn't right that any Moroi could go against our rules by killing someone that was living and yet got to keep the benefits of being a Moroi.

"What was the bird called again Eliza?" Dimitri spoke not looking up from the book.

"Florida scrub jay." Eliza answered

"If that bird is native to Florida how the hell did they get there? Dri said she hasn't been moved since she lost her window," I questioned, it was true. It was only a few hours between Dri and Clary being taken on the footage and James reaching her in a dream.

"What if it was then the girls were moved? They've both said they're being drugged, what if they were moved then. If these guys have the money a private plane wouldn't be that much of a reach." Dimitri finally looked up at us as he spoke.

"But we have no idea when that was, it was weeks ago." Rose spoke behind me and I had no idea when she entered or even if she knew what we were talking about.

"What's going on?" Nik spoke as he sat down beside me.

"Clary recognised a bird when they went outside, a bird that is native to Florida." I replied and he was silent at first, clearly thinking about something.

"Don't we or at least the alchemists keep track of all purchases of our kinds? Can't we find out if any properties are owned by either Moroi or dhampir?"

"Nik's right, not many would live in Florida, it's too hot. Surely it would be a short list and we have three names to go off." Rose spoke as she pulled her phone out and I knew exactly who she was calling.

 _10 weeks_

This was harder than we thought, no one named Bradley, Clive or David owned a property in Florida and we were beginning to lose hope again.

We now had the long process of trying to get in contact with everyone on that owned a property in Florida and it was taking too long. Some people we couldn't even get in contact with.

We hoped that if we couldn't get in contact with just one person then hopefully that was where the girls were.

"I know that name, he's here at Court. I swear he's always around, almost like he's following me." Nik spoke and I looked up at him.

We were going over the list of names again hoping something would jump out at us.

"What name?" Dimitri questioned.

"Barry Conta," I noticed the hesitant tone to his voice. We all knew the stakes of putting the blame of something like this on a royal Moroi.

"But he's royal, what would he be doing being involved in something like this?" Eliza replied.

"Eternal life Eliza, it wouldn't be the first time a royal has wanted it. But the one thing I don't get is how there are what we are assuming to be four people like Dri and Clary, if this Barry person is involved." Rose responded and I knew who she was talking, I think we all did. We all knew about Christian's parents choosing to become Strigoi.

"Maybe he doesn't need one, if he's a Spirit user couldn't he become a Strigoi a regular way. We don't know the full extent to what it means to be a Spirit user." Eliza queried but I shook my head.

"Not possible, we've come across a Spirit user who turned Strigoi because she couldn't handle it anymore and she was restored. She wasn't able to use her powers as a Strigoi and she couldn't still go out in the sun."

"We're losing focus here, we have a potential name. Barry Conta has a property in Florida and by the looks of the map it's in the middle of nowhere and he has property here at Court. Let's just start there and see what happens." Nik snapped at us all for losing focus.

We all agreed and went back to our main focus and that was to figure out what this Barry Conta knew.

Nikolaus POV

 _15 weeks_

It's all been useless, the one name we came across in hopes of finding Dri and Clary alive was a dead end.

We haven't had the chance to speak to Barry Conta because it seemed as though he picked that particular day to take off to Europe, it was like he knew we were planning on confronting him and to me, him running like that proved he was guilty.

I tried to voice these beliefs to both Rose and Dimitri but they just told me to keep my mouth shut, if I continued to keep voicing my issues against a royal I would end up behind bars.

I needed him back at Court, I needed him to tell us where Dri was because I can't stand this much longer.

I knew Dri was alive, Adrian told me as much but he wouldn't tell me anything else and I don't know how much more I could take.

I swear I was asleep before this but yet now it feels as though I'm standing in a very life like room, everything felt so real compared to usual dreams.

"Guardian Anastas?" I spun around and came face to face with Mr Lazar and it was then I assumed this was one of the many Spirit dreams I had heard so much about over the last 14 weeks.

"Mr Lazar, what am I doing here? I didn't realise these dreams worked without being in a close proximity."

"They could work if I was on the other side of the world, I just need to know you well enough to establish the connection."

"What am I doing here then?"

"I was planning on doing Adrianna a favour by bringing you here in hopes you two can talk but she was woken up in the process of me bringing you in."

"Any chance of her going back to sleep?" I had tried asking Adrian if he could connect us all in a dream with Dri but he refused, saying something along the lines of it being the last thing she needed right now.

"I don't know, it depends on why she was woken up. It depends if they wanted to drag her somewhere, it was time for food for her or someone was planning on feeding off her again."

"Again! What do you mean again?" I was furious, I couldn't believe that whoever had was also feeding off her.

"Adrian didn't tell you? Surely Adrian knows, he's not blind. Adrianna is covered in bruises and not all of them are from Moroi bites." He seemed shocked at my reaction, I couldn't believe Adrian was keeping this from us, or was it just me.

"Let me out now Lazar," I growled at him.

I almost expected him to fight me on but the next thing I knew was I was sitting up in my bed.

I rubbed my face attempting to ignore the box sitting in the corner of my room, I knew I should get rid of it but I can't bring myself to do it.

The small amount of time Dri and I had together, she had left numerous things in my apartment. After a week or two I couldn't stand staring at her things and having them be a constant reminder of her not being within my reach so I boxed them all up.

I was just glad I did the night shift last night and I knew Adrian would be awake, I headed towards his house in hopes of demanding to know why he didn't tell us about Dri being fed off.

"Nik what are you doing?" Adrian spoke, looking shocked as he answered the door.

"I just found out something interesting, apparently Dri has been fed off wherever she is. Why haven't you and Eliza told us that, or am I the only one who doesn't know?"

"No, no one else knows and if you know Dri as well as I do you would understand why I haven't said anything. Surely you know how private Dri can be about this, surely you know the one thing she hates the most is how we all talk about her behind her back whether it's a good thing or not. I figured this would be something Dri wouldn't want everyone to know, when we find her and the bruises are still there then yes maybe she will have to explain them but it's her choice Nik."

I was stunned, I never once thought of Dri not wanting everyone to know but he's right. I knew Dri and I knew she wouldn't want everyone to know, whether they were family or not. She wouldn't want people to think she was weak, when she clearly wasn't.

"How did you find out Nik?"

"Mr Lazar must be visiting Dri as well, he said something about a favour but she was woken up before he could finish bringing me into the dream. He must have assumed you told us about the feedings."

"Very well, I'm assuming I can trust you with this knowledge?" I nodded at him. "Excellent, now if you must excuse me. Our long awaited Lord Conta has finally arrived at Court and Lissa has requested his presence. Go back to your apartment and get some more sleep Nik, we will inform you if we get anything useful from him." I nodded and headed back to get some more sleep, hoping I could see Dri in my dreams.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	49. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

Nikolaus POV

It felt like I was barely asleep for five minutes before I was woken up to a banging on my door, but looking at the clock I had been asleep for a couple of hours.

I wanted to just stay here in my bed and ignore the banging on the door so I could go back to sleep where I could dream of Dri. It wouldn't be the same as if it was a Spirit dream but it was enough to push aside the worry of never finding her again.

Just as I was about to fall back asleep my phone rang, I rolled over and grabbed it noticing it was Rose calling.

Even if it wasn't for Dri disappearing and Rose being the link to getting any bit of information about her disappearance. Rose was my superior, I couldn't ignore her when she wanted to talk to me or even gave me orders.

"What Rose?" I snapped at her knowing I wouldn't get in trouble for my attitude at the moment.

"We know where they are." Rose stated, as small as it was, it caused something to snap in me and bring me to full focus.

"What do you mean you know where they are?"

"Long story short, while Lord Conta was in with Liss and Adrian, Dimitri and I snuck into his house. He had video surveillance of both of the girls, everything leads us to believe where they are."

"I'm coming," I demanded, hoping more than anything she doesn't reject it.

"I know, it's why I was banging on the door."

I hung up on Rose so I could get up and get dressed before leaving my apartment and following Rose.

I had no idea how much of the plan they had already come up with, I had no idea what we were expecting going into that building or even how exactly we found out where they were.

I didn't see the point in questioning Rose, she wanted Dri home as much as I did so she wouldn't lie to me about this, and there was no point since she would be hurting herself as much as she would me.

In the end there was a large group of us piled onto one of the Courts planes, Dimitri and myself would be the only two of the plane that Dri trusted and we had no idea what her mind frame would be once we get in there.

Rose stayed back at Court to monitor and keep an eye on us from there, with this many Guardians leaving the grounds she had to stay there with the Queen to make sure she was protected.

The flight was taking too long and I wasn't liking it, I needed to get there quicker then we were and I needed to make sure Dri was alright.

It didn't matter if Lord Conta was locked up on the Queens orders until we get it settled, we did know for certain he was a Spirit user but we had no idea what his abilities were so we had no idea if he was able to make contact with them with the use of Spirit and let them know we were coming.

As soon as we landed we spilt up into groups, climbing into the cars before speeding towards the house. A part of the plan had been to spilt up into groups and search the house that way, we had found blueprints for the house and discovered just how big it was and this plan was the easiest way would be to find Dri and Clary.

It was taking too long, my group was sent upstairs to search the bedrooms. I thought this would be my best chance at finding her first but each room just kept turning up empty.

I opened the door to the last bedroom trying not to be filled with hope, hoping that she would be in there and I could take her home.

I was instantly filled with dread at the sight of the room, it was empty. No sight of Dri but at least it looked like someone had been living in here.

 _"We've found Guardian Ivashkov,"_ I heard one of the other Guardians speak and I was grateful, this was a huge leap we were taking with this.

Dri had been missing for too long, normally by now we assumed the person was dead but the only reason we knew she was alive was because Adrian had been able to keep in contact with her.

 _"Nik can you hear me?"_ I heard Dimitri speak.

"Yeah are you with her?"

 _"No but listen from what I've seen in here she won't come willingly, she only trusts the two of us out of all the Guardians here. If you find her first just talk to her in Greek, it doesn't matter what you say it will relax her and calm her down enough to realise you won't hurt her."_

"Got it."

I found what Dimitri told me strange but I kept his advice in mind and headed towards where the Guardians said Dri was, I just hoped she was alive and would willingly come so the Guardians wouldn't have to take drastic measures.

I finally found the group of Guardians standing around and when I moved closer to the group Dri was standing there were bodies surrounding her, Dri wasn't saying anything she just stood there with a stake in her hands and a sword on the ground beside her, if any of us went to move she would strike.

"Dri can you look at me," I was standing off to the side from the main group hoping she could pull her focus from them to me but it didn't work she just shook her head.

I put my stake back in the holder and held my hands up before speaking in Greek hoping Dimitri's advice worked, it took a while but she eventually dropped the stake and looked at me.

"Nik?" she finally looked at me and all the life she normally had in her eyes were gone, they were empty and shallow

"Yeah it's me Dri, your safe," I stepped closer to her

She shook her head in reply, "no they're trying to hurt me."

"I promise you these Guardians won't hurt you, they just want to take you home."

Dri didn't say anything, she was standing in front of me now and I was able to get a good look at her for what had happened to her and I didn't like it. She had bite marks all over her neck and bruises which I'm assuming is from beatings. She pressed her face into my chest and I instantly wrapped my arms around her while the rest of the Guardians moved forward to check the bodies.

"3 Strigoi and 2 dhampir" someone called out and I couldn't believe this, I couldn't believe Dri had been through all of this. I don't even know how she managed to come out of this alive, but hopefully it will come out at some stage and she will fine after some time.

"Come on, let's get you home," I tried to pull her away from the room but she attempted to hold her ground. "Dri don't you want to go home? Your family misses you."

"Clary…" her voice broke as she spoke but it was the one word that made me realise something.

"Turn the female dhampir over," I gave my order and the Guardian on the ground rolled the body.

Dri broke down in my arms when we could see Clary's face, I didn't know what to do to help Dri at the moment, I just knew I needed to get her home.

"Take her with us, the rest get destroyed." Dimitri's voice rang through the deadly silent room aside from Dri's sobbing.

I wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close to my body, hoping this time she will allow me to pull her with me from the room.

In the end I had to pick Dri up and carry her out, it was almost like she wasn't able to walk anymore and she was out of the energy. I was just surprised she had enough energy and adrenaline to stay standing for as long as she did.

"I've missed you so much," I spoke softly as I held Dri close in the car. She had stopped crying on our way out and now she was just silent.

Those assholes broke the girl I fell in love with and I was terrified I was never going to get her back.

I softly kissed the top of her head and panic filled me when her whole body tensed at the small action, in the past it had calmed her and now it caused panic in her.

"Dri?" I questioned but she shook her head at me and buried herself further into me.

This had to be a good sign right? She was taking comfort in me and at least she hadn't pushed me away, I just hoped she never did.

She was quiet the whole way home, I was worried but I also knew her well enough to know that she just needed time to process everything and hopefully then she would speak.

She finally spoke when we were back at Court, I was leading her towards the Guardian building in hopes of her having a shower and getting some sleep.

"Stop," she pulled against my hand.

"You don't want to have a shower and rest?"

"I do, but Rose and Dimitri's, please" she pleaded with me and I was torn but in the end I nodded and gave her what she wanted, even if it wasn't what I wanted.

"Is she still in there?" I pulled my hands away from my face at the sound of Rose's voice.

We had gotten to Rose and Dimitri's and Dri had unlocked the door using a spare key, she headed straight towards the guest bedroom before locking herself in the bathroom and I've been sitting here on the bed ever since, that was almost an hour ago.

"Yeah, I don't know what to do. She won't open the door for me, I can only assume she just wants space and I have to give it to her."

"She went through a lot while she was gone and half of it we can't even imagine. Nik, Clary was killed in front of her, her body was drained and two Strigoi had their heads cut off. She just needs time to deal with it and to know that you are there for her."

"But she came here."

"Because she feels safer here, she knows that Dimitri and I wouldn't force you away from her in a time like this. There will essentially be three Guardians here compared to the one had she gone back to your apartment with you." Rose was right.

I hadn't thought about Dri being worried about her safety but then I realised, she was taken from Court and she was terrified about coming back here where she could just as easily be taken again.

"She will come out, just give her time and don't force her to talk. Just wait for her to open up." I nodded at Rose, she gave me a small smile before leaving me alone in the room hoping that the bathroom door will open soon enough.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	50. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

Adrianna POV

I couldn't get the images of Clary's lifeless body to disappear from my mind, I tried everything I could think of, aside from drowning myself in the shower.

I just stood there and did nothing until it was too late and even now I'm not sure how it all happened, I look back at it and it was like I was auto pilot. I wouldn't even be able to tell you where in the hell the sword came from but I'm just glad it was sharp and I was able to take off their heads.

"Dri…?" Nik's voice was followed by a knock on the door and my body jumped in alert.

My first instinct reactions are so hard to push aside, for weeks every time a door opened I panicked. It didn't matter if I trusted Nik with my life, my body still panicked. Even earlier when he kissed me, normally it was the thing that I took the most comfort in but yet it sent a sense of panic through my body and I hated it.

"Please unlock the door for me," my body relaxed as I reminded myself I did lock the door and he can't force his way into here, although I can't imagine him doing that unless he thought I was unconscious.

Nik's voice disappeared and I climbed out of the shower, the water had gone cold and I was shivering beyond my control.

I stood there in front of the mirror and took in all my bruises, I knew at least dad knew some of the extent of my bruises but it was my eyes spotted the ones on my thighs. I couldn't let dad know about those, he would be beside himself but I knew I had to tell somebody but I had no idea who to start with. I didn't know who I could talk to about this, I didn't know who I could trust with this.

I heard Rose's voice on the other side of the door but it wasn't loud enough for me to work out what they were saying, I waited until the muffled voices died away before opening the door.

At first Nik didn't react to the open the door, it almost looked like he was asleep. "Nik?" I spoke quietly and he slowly opened his eyes and looked at me standing there covered in just a towel giving him the chance to see just how badly I was bruised.

He didn't say anything as he stood up and walked closer to me, I wanted to back away at his stare but I had to keep telling myself that he wouldn't hurt me. I knew that, I knew that Nik wouldn't hurt me. He loved me right?

My body tensed as he lifted a hand towards me, I didn't know what he was planning to do but I was worried.

His fingers run softly along the edge of the towel, but it didn't matter how soft his fingers were it still hurt when he came across a bruise. He edged the towel down softly and pure anger appeared in his face.

"That's a bite mark Dri, how did a bite mark get on your chest," his voice was soft but I could sense the hint of anger in it.

I knew how it got there, I could even tell you the last time Bradley bit me there but I couldn't tell Nik, I couldn't tell him what happened. I couldn't tell him that Bradley forced himself onto me.

"Don't, please," I pleaded with him as my eyes welled up again and every bit of anger he had showing on his face disappeared.

I would probably be deluding myself by telling myself he had no idea how that bite mark got there, he probably worked it out but wanted me to deny it. So me trying to convince him not to force me to say it was enough to realise it was true.

He moved his hand and cupped my face, "Okay, whatever you want."

"Thank you, I need some clothes." He nodded before leaning forward and pressing his lips against my forehead.

My body tensed at the kiss but at least this time he didn't question it, he just softly stroked my cheek before leaving the room.

I walked over and sat on the bed, I was just glad the door was left opened. I didn't know what would happen if the door was closed and someone opened it.

"Are you alright?" I jumped at the sound of Rose's voice, I expected Nik to come back not Rose. I nodded as she shut the door.

"Nik said you needed some clothes, are you going to be able to sleep tonight?" Rose placed the clothes on the bed beside me and I looked at them.

"I don't know, sleep seems to be so far away. I'm not even asleep and I can't get the images out of my head, I can't imagine what it will be like once I'm asleep."

"I know Dri, I've been in your situation."

"Senior year?" I remember her saying something about losing a friend her senior year, I wondered if that was then. I don't recall hearing anything about her being kidnapped since she graduated.

She nodded in response, "I doubt it was the same situation though." I responded, afraid to move the towel just like I was with Nik.

"Your right, I was gone a couple of days at most. You were gone for weeks Dri and that bite right there lets me believe something else happened beside beatings and normal feedings." I looked down and saw that the bite mark that Nik spotted was still on show.

"Please don't make me talk about it," I looked at her and pleaded with her like I pleaded with Nik.

"You will have to at some point, at some point you will have to give a report and at some point you need to receive your tattoo's because remember we found three dead Strigoi bodies in that house." I nodded at Rose, hoping she would leave me alone to get dressed. I also hoped that both her and Nik wouldn't tell anyone what they assumed happened to me from that one bite they saw on my chest.

Nikolaus POV

I was sitting in Rose and Dimitri's living room waiting for Rose to come back out, I knew I should have gone and reported to Croft about what I saw but I just hoped he understood why I was still here.

I had no idea if Dri was going to come out once she was dressed, go to sleep or even lock herself in the bedroom and shutting herself off from me as well.

Rose walked back and looked at me for a moment before coming over and sitting next to me, "please tell me you saw what I just did."

"You and I both know Dri doesn't want us to tell anyone what we saw, she doesn't even want us to know what happened." I replied before standing up and heading back down the hallway to where I left Dri.

When I entered the bedroom I noticed Dri curled up in the bed, I hated that she wasn't talking to anyone about what happened but I just hoped with time that she would open up to us all or someone that could at least help her deal with what happened.

I walk over and climbed in beside her but before I even had the chance to do anything she started screaming and move away from me on the bed.

The pure terror that was on her face was enough for me to jump off the bed, I had no idea what to do now.

Rose burst through the door and looked at the scene, me standing on one side of the bed while Dri was on the other curled up on the floor shaking.

"What the hell happened to cause her to scream like that?" Rose growled at me but I was too busy looking at Dri, she looked up at me and I could see the tears staining her cheeks.

"I climbed in beside her, I must have startled her. We'll be fine Rose," I spoke as I walked over and squatted in front of Dri.

"I'm sorry," Dri spoke softly but I just shook my head before wiping away her tears, I noticed in the corner of my vision that Rose reluctantly left us alone.

"Come on let's get back in bed, or am I sleeping on the floor?" I smirked at her, glad to see a glint of light in her eyes before she uncurled her body.

"Don't be ridicules, I trust you. I trust you and you won't hurt me." Dri muttered and I was unsure as to who she was trying to convince more, me or herself.

I stood up and held my hand out for her, it took her longer than I would have liked for her to grab. I helped her to stand and led her over to the bed.

Her burrowing close to my body was a good sign, she trusted me and I just had to stop startling her like I was because I don't know how I can handle seeing much more of that pure terror on her face.

I wanted to throw up, I was sick to my stomach and the last time I truly felt like this was when my cousin Kass told me what happened all those years ago.

This morning when we woke up Dri decided she may as well get over recalling what happened in the months of her kidnapping, I stared at her. I was unsure if it was truly Dri in front of me, I couldn't believe that she would willingly give up this story so early.

Rose and Dimitri made it happen, the two of them organised it so Dri could sit down and tell everyone that needed to know what happen could at once.

At first I didn't want to be in that room, I don't know if could handle hearing what happened to her. I knew I would be furious hearing everything that happened and I wouldn't be able to do anything since those people were already dead, at Dri's hands.

But Dri requested that I sat there beside her, she wanted me there for her as her support. I don't know how I could do it but I had to, she needed me there for her so I had to be.

After hearing everything, hearing how often she would get beaten to begin with, when the feedings started, when the raping started and when the beatings started again because they were bored.

I was sick to my stomach at the thought of someone violently abusing Dri like that, there is a difference in thinking it happened because of the bite mark I spotted on her chest and hearing the truth behind it all.

The thing that shocked me the most was how she managed to come out of it alive.

"Explain it again Guardian Ivashkov," there was frustration written on Dri's face at the thought of having to tell the story again.

I gripped her hand under the table hoping to give her some small piece of comfort and I was just glad she didn't panic at my action because I didn't even think it through.

"I was pulled out of my bedroom and Bradley begun telling the story of how the Strigoi can become an immortal Moroi thanks to a certain aspect of Spirit. Clive asked to go first and that's when Clary was killed, he completely drained her off her blood.

I panicked to begin with but then I was overcome with adrenaline, I knew that if I didn't do anything I would be dead as well. I threw an elbow to the ribs of the Guardian holding me, he wasn't expecting me to fight since I had given up fighting so long ago. I was able to fight him and grab his weapons, I grabbed his stake and the gun. I quickly put shots off at the Guardian and Bradley hoping I had killed them and I focused my attention on the two Strigoi.

If everything I had been told was true I had no idea how to kill them, I still don't even know where I grabbed the sword from but I was managing against the two of them reassembly well before I cut the first head off." Dri stopped, not being able to continue and I hated seeing her like this, I hated how I didn't know how to help her.

"Is this really necessary? She's told the story twice already, we know what happens next. She turns around with the hope of escaping to realise that the last Moroi wasn't actually dead, he drained the Guardian before being turned into a Strigoi and Dri killed that one while we managed to capture the last Guardian that came our way and didn't get killed by Dri." I spoke, putting more effort than I thought would be needed to not yell at my superiors.

"Yes we know and understand that part of the story Guardian Anastas but we don't understand is where the sword came from." Croft replied and I took a deep breath.

"We all saw that house, there were weapons all over. Maybe there was a sword in the room, Dri went through a lot in the time she was at that house and we all just heard it. Maybe she grabbed the sword and doesn't even remember doing it.

Surely we all remember what it was like going against Strigoi the first time as Guardians, or even before and we had to kill them. Some of us would have panicked and only survived on a feat of pure adrenaline, why does it matter where the sword came from?" I questioned and looked at Dri just in time for her to mouth a thank you.

"Very well, Ivashkov you are free to go but please return tomorrow to have your tattoos done." I watched Dri nod before standing up and rushing out of the room.

"Anastas if you would stay behind," Croft spoke and I knew I was in trouble.

"Guardian Croft?" I spoke once everyone cleared out.

"You could be in a lot of trouble for speaking out the way you did just then."

"I understand."

"Very well, go and make sure Dri is fine. You as well as anyone else understands the process with these, I recall requesting you to retell the events of what happened five times before you were allowed to leave."

"Yes but I was filled with anger not fear and terror, she panics every time someone opens a door."

"Very well, you may leave." I nodded at Croft before leaving in search of Dri but I was shocked to find her waiting in the hallway, I just hoped she didn't hear my conversation with Croft because now wouldn't be the time to tell her what happened.

"Are you alright?" I questioned as I walked over towards but she only nodded in response before stepping in closer to me and wrapping her arms around me.

"Can we go back to yours?" I was shocked when she spoke, even more shocked at her question.

"If you want, but why?"

"I worry that something might happen again like last night and I can't have Rose and Dimitri kill you," she pulled away and looked at me, all while taking a deep breath. "I've only been back a day and I've already panicked and freaked out so much and yet you've stayed, you haven't left. I have to keep telling myself that I trust you and you wouldn't do anything to hurt me because you love me right?"

I cupped her face and looked at her, her face might have been blank but slowly but surely her eyes were lighting up. It might have been fear and something she told me she was afraid I didn't love her anymore and she couldn't trust me but it was something, she was slowly pulling away from the dull Dri I saw yesterday.

"Yes I still love you Dri, nothing has changed. I've told you before nothing changes."

"But I've changed, everything that happened has changed me."

"You just need time to heal, it will just make you stronger. Just remember Dri, I love you and you can trust me, nothing has changed in the weeks you were gone." I lowered my head and rested my forehead against hers as she closed her eyes.

I wanted so badly to kiss her but I had no idea the type of reaction I would get.

"I trust you…" it came out so soft, I barely heard her but something also told me I shouldn't have heard her.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	51. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

Nikolaus POV

Dri had only been back at Court for a week and I was worried, she was quiet not really saying anything normally she just stuck to the bedroom. When she repeated her story of what happened while she was kidnapped it seemed to return some of the life that was missing and I was hopeful, but before the days end it had disappeared and she shut herself off even more.

I had tried to talk to her, to get any word out of her about what happened but she just went silent or she would plead with me to not force her to talk about it. I was just grateful she wasn't pushing me away, she was just refusing to talk.

The only time she complained was when I went to leave my apartment and begin my shifts at Court, she didn't want me to leave and leave her alone. She was worried something was going to happen and it didn't matter if I tried to convince her she would be safe because the reality was she had been kidnapped from Court in the first place.

I entered the bedroom and found she was for once sleeping peacefully, I was beginning to worry that her sleep deprivation was going to cause problems for her and I didn't want to have to take drastic measures by forcing her back to the hospital.

I walked over and climbed in bedside her and that was when she begun freaking out, she was thrashing around in the bed screaming about not wanting me to hurt her. I ended up having to straddle her lap and pin her arms down to try and even wake her up.

"Dri, please wake up. I promise I'm not going to hurt you, just open your eyes," I had her hands pinned with one hand while the other stroked her face and brushed the hair out of her face.

Her eyes eventually fluttered open and she instantly relaxed at seeing me and not someone else, "I'm sorry," she frowned and turned her head to look away from me.

I shifted so I was beside her on the bed and she instantly curled up in my arms, "I really am sorry for freaking out."

"Don't, don't be sorry. I startled you after what you've been through, you'll get there. Just go back to sleep for now." I hoped she would nod and relax in my arms but she didn't, instead she shook her head. "Alright but I need to get some sleep, stay here with me and you can wake me up if anything happens alright?" she nodded and I softly kissed her head before wrapping my arms tighter around her and closing my eyes to get some sleep.

When I woke up a few hours later I was surprised to find Dri missing from the bed, if I was in bed she hated to leave unless she had too. I had even had a T.V put in here so she wasn't staring at a blank wall all night.

I got up and entered the bathroom to hear the shower running, I walked over and found her curled up on the bottom of it with the water running on her. I walked closer to her and knelt in front of the shower, she had been back a week but she still had bruising on her body and every time I saw them I had to try and suppress the anger I had fill me.

"You alright?" she lifted her head and looked at me but the look in her eyes was so similar to that she had when we finally found her. "Dri…?"

"I'm sorry I heard a noise," Dri finally spoke before burying her head back in her arms.

"Come on let's get you dressed and back in bed," I spoke softly and she nodded her head but it took a moment for her to actually stand up.

It took her a day or two to let her guard down about being naked in front of me again, I didn't know if she was worried about what I would think about some of the bruises or if it would change the way I felt about her.

But she kept forgetting that she was the one that wanted me in that meeting with her, I had to sit there and listen to her tell us all that she was raped and the bruising that appeared because of it. Just because she had been abused, it doesn't mean I will instantly stop loving her.

I was still shocked at the sight of her naked, all the muscle definition she had from the hours spent in the gym before she was taken was gone, I couldn't believe how easy it was for her to lose what she had.

I wrapped the towel around her and pulled her close to my body and it was then I realised she was shaking, "Dri what's wrong?"

"I had fallen asleep and a noise woke me up but you didn't and I freaked thinking something had happened to you and I couldn't take it…"

"Shh, Dri it's fine. I'm fine and the noise was most likely one of the other Guardians out in the hall, sometimes there will be noises in the hall," she nodded against my chest and I guided her into the bedroom to get her some clothes

She was sitting in the bed wrapped in the towel not looking at anything in particular, as much as I wish I had the girl that I fell for back I knew she just needed time to heal after everything she went through.

I pulled out one of my shirts and handed it to her hoping to bring back just the smallest bit of life to her eyes, before her kidnapping she had always preferred sleeping in my shirts and I would be lying if I said it didn't turn me on but right now sex was the last thing on her mind.

She grabbed the shirt from me and put it on before handing me the towel, I went and placed in back in the bathroom before getting changed since I had gotten wet when she got out of the shower before I went and laid down beside her putting my arms around her waist.

Adrianna POV

It was early in the morning and I couldn't stand being trapped in the bed for much longer, I twisted my head and looked at Nik.

I was so incredibly grateful for him, he has been so understanding about everything. Even last night, I panicked when he got in the bed beside me and all I could do was fight back. When I opened my eyes and realised it was him, all I saw was worry on his face and I became worried, because how long was it till it all becomes too much for him and he gives up and leaves me?

I carefully pried Nik's arm away from my waist hoping not to wake him because he needs his rest, I don't. I know I won't be declared safe for work until I talk to someone and right now I wasn't ready to talk to anyone, not even Nik.

I grabbed my phone off the dresser on the way out of the bedroom heading towards the living room. I quickly sent a message off waiting for a reply.

 _You awake?_

I sat there on the couch waiting for a reply but instead my phone rings, a small smile appears on my face before answering.

"You could have replied you know."

 _"I know but I figured there was a reason you sent me a message, you've also been ignoring my other messages for the past week. Being told your fine is different to hearing it from you Dri."_

I went silent at Bri's comment, it was true and I hated myself for it. Nik had told me that my friends had been worried about me when I first disappeared and when I returned but I just couldn't talk to anyone. I hadn't even answered my phone, it had been sitting on the dresser for a week. If it needed to charge I would pick it up and plug it in but other than that I didn't unlock it and read my messages.

"I know, I really am sorry Bri. It's just so much to deal with, even now I'm still so unsure about talking."

 _"Then why did you message me?"_

"Boredom and I actually miss you," Bri laughed in response and I was glad.

 _"I would say if you're getting bored it means you need something to do, talk to that gorgeous boyfriend of yours, get back in the gym or talk to a therapist so you can go back to work. I'm not pushing you away and I will always be here for you but between the time differences and my shifts I can't always be available for phone calls so you need to rely on someone closer to you."_

"What if I'm not ready for all of that?"

 _"But yet you can talk to me? Dri that doesn't make sense, why can you talk to me but not Nik."_

"When did you start calling him Nik instead of Anastas?"

 _"When you were missing but it's not the point, why won't you talk to him?"_

"Because I've been a mess and I'm afraid he'll leave me," my voice broke and I heard Bri let out a sigh over the phone.

 _"Don't think about that, because he won't leave you, well I doubt he will. He loves you Dri and he was the one keeping us up to date with the search for you."_

"Seriously? He rang you, Damon and Josh while I was gone?"

 _"Yes, now please reconsider talking to him. I'm not saying tell him every enteric detail about what happened to you but talk about normal things like we are right now and get back in the gym. He was your mentor while we were at school, he can help you regain the muscle I know you would have lost."_

"Fine, I will think about it. Now what's going on with you?" Bri laughed before launching into a story and for the first time in a week I was starting to feel like myself, well as myself as I can be after everything that happened.

Nikolaus POV

I woke up once again to find Dri missing from the bed, I was a little worried that this happened twice in one day considering she never leaves the bed while I'm still asleep.

I got out of the bed and first checked the bathroom only to find it empty, I headed out towards the living room and kitchen area hoping she was there and that she was just hungry.

What I didn't expect was to find her sitting on the couch laughing about something, I was a little hurt that I wasn't able to do that with her but I also had a feeling as to who she was on the phone with. The same person she always ran to, Bri.

I continued to stand there leaning against the wall watching as the girl I fell once in love with was slowly returning, her laugh slowly became more normal and wasn't as forced.

Dri hung up her phone and sat there on the couch for a moment before getting up, but she stopped walking at the sight of me.

"Hi," I smiled at her, mostly because she looked embarrassed at having been caught and the slight blush that crept up on her cheeks was adorable.

"Hi yourself, you look to be in a better mood this morning." I walked over and softly stroked her cheek while softly kissing her forehead.

"I am, I forgot how much I missed Bri," a frown appeared on her face, but I just continued to stroke her cheek.

"It happens after graduation, you miss your friends. You spent most of your life with them with only holidays apart and now you've been forced apart, I went through the same thing with my friends after graduating. Do you want breakfast?" she nodded and I made my way over to make a start on breakfast all while Dri sat on at the breakfast bar.

"Can we talk?" Dri spoke as I was putting the dishes from breakfast in the sink.

She had been a little quiet during breakfast and I would be lying if I didn't say I was disappointed, I was hoping that after her conversation with Bri that she would be more willing to talk to me. I wasn't forcing her to talk about what happened, at this point in time I would be happy to talk about anything, even if she asked questions about my shifts I would be fine with that.

"Of course, we can always talk." I walked over and took my seat beside her and she was silent at first. "Dri?"

"I'm sorry, no don't brush my apology off. I'm not apologising for my panic attacks this time, I'm apologising for shutting you out. You've done nothing but be kind and be here for me, but all I've done in return is ignore you."

I stared at her, unsure of what to say. As much I hated that she wasn't talking to me, I understood. I knew Dri well enough to know that she just needed time and I hoped that after her phone call with Bri it would enough for her to slowly start returning to me.

"Nik, please say something…"

"What would you like me to say Dri? I do hate it, I hate that you've been shutting me out but I understand. I know you Dri, I've seen you before during periods of stress or turmoil. You go quiet and shut everyone out, it was the same thing almost three years ago. If you were constantly in the gym, then I would be worried but at the moment the only thing that is worrying me is your lack of sleep."

Dri's eyes welled up and I wanted to kick myself for what I said, I didn't mean to upset her like that but hell she had asked.

"Please don't leave me, I can't have you leaving me," she shook her as the tears escaped.

I tried saying her name to get her attention but she ignored me, I resorted to cupping her face and forcing her to look at me.

"You hate me," she spoke and she sounded so devastated.

"No, far from it. I don't hate you, I love you. I hate your actions, there is a difference. Remember I told you last week that nothing has changed, I knew with time you would return to me and I was willingly giving you that time."

"But you're worried, won't you get sick of worrying about me?"

"Dri your personality is like a tornado, you don't think things through, I will always worry about you because of it. As for my concern about you right now, yes I'm worried about your lack of sleep and what it is doing to your body but it isn't of concern right now and I don't have to take you to the hospital."

"Don't take me to the hospital, I promise I will sleep more. It's just the nightmares, they won't go away."

I wiped away the tears that escaped and stayed silent, why hadn't I thought that maybe the reason as to why she wasn't sleeping was because of nightmares.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I was scared you would force me to do something I didn't want too."

"Dri, I would never force you do anything but I would make a suggestion. Why don't you start talking to a therapist to help with your nightmares, we both know you have to at some stage if you want to go back to work. The therapist might also prescribed something so you can get a full night's sleep."

"I'm not ready, I can't Nik." She shook her head again and I let my hands drop.

"I know and I understand, but how come you can talk to Bri but not me?" I questioned hoping not to push her away from me.

"Because it's Bri, she's never judged me even when I told her I had fallen for a teacher. I was worried you hated me and one day it would become too much and you will leave me for it."

"Dri I love you, I've told you this before. I won't leave you because of something like this, as for you talking to Bri over me. Does it have anything to do with us still having to push aside all the boundaries we had put in place while I was your teacher?"

Dri didn't say anything, she nodded in response. "We will be fine, as I said before. We just have to work on those issues and we will get past them."

I placed my hands on her face, she gave me a small smile and I lowered my head hoping more than anything she won't freak. I softly pressed my lips against her, her body tensed but it didn't take long for her to wrap her arms around my neck. I pulled away before it became too much and I rested my forehead against hers.

"Please don't question my love for you, I still love you even after everything. Please remember that." I whispered and she nodded, I just hoped it stayed true.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	52. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51**

Adrianna POV

I knew I would probably get in trouble for being in here considering I hadn't been approved for it. I was currently in the gym, attempting to take out the anger that I woke up with this morning. I didn't know if it was at myself or what had happened to me.

I knew Bri said I should get back in the gym but when I brought it up with Nik he said I wasn't allowed, not until I had my health approved for it.

It was also a couple of days ago I had that conversation with Nik, it didn't matter if he told me he loved me at least a couple of times or that he would never leave me but I was worried as hell that he wouldn't be able to keep his word and one day he would leave me.

I was in the middle of punching the punching bag when a familiar face came into view of my vision and I stopped mid punch, getting hit by the bag on its way back not entirely expecting it to hit me.

"Zoya what are you doing here?" I questioned as I pulled my head phones out ignoring the throbbing pain in my side.

"I'm back in Court, I went to visit Dimka and Rose. They seemed to think you could do with some company but I was planning on getting a work out in first."

"I'm so glad you're here, I've missed you." I stepped closer to her and put my arms around her.

It was true, I really did miss Zoya. We didn't get to spend as much time together during the summer as I would have liked, but we were both too busy spending time with our friends before we were all separated.

Zoya and I both understood what it was like to rarely see each other, it comes with being in different countries but we were family and we loved each other either way and knew we would always be there for each other no matter what.

"I've missed you too, but I thought you weren't cleared for training?"

"She's not," my face drained of blood at the sound of the Greek accent.

"Bye, come see me later." Zoya quickly waved at me before turning and leaving me.

I turned and faced Nik, not overly sure how this was going to go because he didn't look too pleased about finding me in here.

"What are you doing in here Dri?" he growled at me.

"I'm starting to get restless just sitting in the apartment all day," I frowned at him, but he shook his head before stepping forward and kissing the top of my head.

"Have you worked out where you plan on staying? Because everything is still at your dad's and you can't keep stealing all my clothes."

Yesterday Nik had asked what my plans were for my permanent living situation, he made it clear he wasn't kicking me out but he was also unsure what I was planning because most of my things were at dads. I've been afraid to walk to the other side of the grounds in attempt to grab more of my things, especially clothes.

I don't think anyone was home anyway, dad stayed at Court for a couple of days after I returned but then he had to return to St Vladimir's to finish teaching James for his senior year and last I heard Ellie was overseas visiting her family.

"Do you have a problem with me stealing your clothes?" I questioned hoping to remove some of his anger.

"No of course, that isn't the issue here neither is me having to share my apartment with you. Hell if you turned around and told me you would feel safer living with me permanently then I would be fine with that as well. Dri you just need to make a decision, it's a part of your healing process to move on with your life. You need to decide if you want to move back in at your dad's for a bit, get your own apartment or move in with me."

"What's wrong with me being in the gym? I haven't touched the weights or gotten on the treadmill, all I've done is punch the bag and I've haven't put all my weight behind it and you will be pleased to know I strapped my knuckles," I held my hands up for him and I noticed him trying to fight a smile.

"You need to be cleared by a doctor for health reasons, what if you passed out in here and no one found you?"

"But you're in here now?"

"No, not until you get cleared by the doctor." He growled at me and I frowned hoping to soften him up. "Don't Dri, how about this. If you go and see the doctor and get cleared for being allowed in the gym I will stop harassing you about your living situation."

"Why do I feel like there is also a but?"

"You have to get some more of your things from your dad's, we can do it when I'm not working and we will be fine. I can also get access to one of the cars so we can go from one end to the other."

"If it gets me back in the gym fine," I grumbled but Nik just laughed before kissing my forehead.

"I really am glad you're slowly opening up more and becoming more of you again." I smiled at him.

Ever since I told him my fears over him leaving me, he's been reminding that he still loved me and he was happy with the progress I was making. It wasn't over the top that it was bugging me but it was enough to help erase my fears.

I was thankful that he didn't think I was crazy for thinking what I was, hell maybe he did but didn't voice them.

I was hesitant to go to the doctor, I had no idea what kind of things I would be asked or what kind of information I would have to give up but I wanted to be back in the gym and Nik wouldn't let me unless I did this.

"How about this όmorfos," he wrapped an arm around me and held me close to him.

"When are you going to tell me what that means?"

"Never," he smirked at me. "As I was saying, how about this. If you can successfully flip me like you have in the past I will convince the doctor you are perfectly fine to be back in the gym and I will personally grab your things from your dads and move them into my apartment if that is what you want."

I couldn't help it, I grinned at him. This was too easy, when he wasn't defending himself it was easy enough to flip him and if I did this, I got everything I wanted without that stupid doctor's visit.

"Deal," I stated with a grin on my face, but all he did was shake his head before going and standing on the mats.

I groaned as I collapsed to the floor, I couldn't do it. I could not flip Nik no matter how hard I tried.

"Are you ready to give up όmorfos?" the devil himself came and knelt in front of me and I frowned at him.

"I used to be able to do it all the time, why can't I now?"

"Because you are out of shape, you need to go back to the basics when it comes to your training and I promise I will help you but before that even happens you need to get cleared by the doctors. You have to make sure nothing was seriously damaged while you were away, the last thing we need is for you to be in the process of recovery from an injury and you do something to make it worse. You also know the feeders have a limit of how much blood can be taken, what if your blood levels are still too low for exercise? You could seriously hurt yourself if we don't get these things checked out, you seeing a doctor doesn't mean you have to talk about what happened while you were in that house."

I frowned at him but all he did was laugh before softly kissing the top of my head.

"I don't want to be out of shape."

"Then let's go to the doctor and get you cleared and then we can come back here, I promise." I eyed him, there was no way it was that easy to be able back in the gym. "What?" He laughed in response.

"Nothing, I just feel like your solution is too good to be true…"

"You feel like I'm going to go back on my word?" I averted my gaze from him, not wanting to see the look he was giving me. "Dri I promise you if the doctor says you are allowed back in the gym we will come straight back here and we can begin training you back up, trust me?"

I looked up at him, silent at first. It was the way he said trust me that made me think that there was more to it.

My first week back at Court I was regularly having to remind myself that I trusted Nik and he wouldn't hurt me, it was the only I could get over the automatic reactions to some of his actions. I was slowly improving but there was still moments when I didn't expect something that I would tense up and panic slightly.

"Are you alright?" Nik voice's pulled me from my thoughts and I gave him a small smile.

"Sorry, yes we can go now." I grabbed his outstretched hand allowing him to help me up, I ignored the twinge I felt in my side because it was nothing new.

"I knew it was too good to be true," I grumbled on my way out of the doctor's.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in pain, you've been back for almost two weeks and you've claimed you were fine?" Nik spoke hoping to get me to stop walking but I kept going.

"Dri please stop and talk to me, I had no idea the doctor was going to tell you that you had cracked ribs. How the hell did you manage to throw punches earlier and not feel any pain?" I finally stopped at looked at Nik.

The doctor had stated that the only thing of concern were the bruises on my ribs, when she asked about them I just shrugged. I had noticed the bruises but just assumed they were taking longer to disappear and they weren't the only ones.

"I just thought it was taking longer to disappear compared to other bruises, you saw the bruise the other day. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I didn't Dri, I was more worried about you freaking out again." Nik cupped my face but I pulled away from him. "Fine, be mad at me for not taking notice of how one of your bruises was taking longer to heal compared to the rest. I woke up and found you lying on the bottom of the shower, I had more things I was concerned about. How come you haven't said anything about being in pain? How have you gone these two weeks in pain?" he questioned and I knew he was getting annoyed with me.

"Because I had worse while I was away!" I snapped at him before storming off.

I didn't even realise where my feet for taking me until I looked up to realise I was at Rose and Dimitri's, I knocked on the door hoping they were home because I don't know if I was ready to go back to Nik's and continue the argument we had.

"What are you doing here Dri?" Rose questioned when she opened the door, by the look of her she had been asleep as well.

"I'm sorry for waking you, can I hang out here?" I questioned and she nodded stepping aside letting me in.

"What happened with Nik?"

"Does it matter?" I continued towards the living turning the T.V hoping she wouldn't question me further on what happened.

"Turn it down a bit so I can get some more sleep," I nodded before grabbing the remote and turning it down so she can get some sleep.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because at some stage I was being shaken awake and when I opened my eyes Nik was kneeling in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" I question softly while sitting up.

"I came here looking for you, you can't seriously be mad at me for not realising you had cracked ribs when you couldn't even tell me you were in pain." He sat down next to me and I couldn't help but frown at him before turning away.

"No, I'm mad at myself for not realising the pain was something more than just a stupid bruise. You heard the doctor, I had broken bones that hadn't healed properly and you've seen the bite marks. I spent so much time either drugged or in a haze from the bites that I didn't realise how much pain I was but when I wasn't in those hazes I felt the pain, I had to deal with it without painkillers. I had to put on a brave face because if I didn't I would just get beaten again and end up with more broken bones." I pressed my palms into my eyes, hoping to get rid of the memories that had come forward. I've spent so much time trying to get rid of them, I didn't want to deal with them anymore. I wanted it all to go away, I wanted to forget it all.

When I pulled my hands away and looked up Rose and Dimitri were standing there, both looking incredibly pissed off and I'm assuming they heard what I just told Nik considering when I looked at him he looked just as angry.

I may not have gone into great detail about what exactly happened to me physically when I gave my report, I just briefed over what had happened to me.

"Dri, why didn't you tell us this?" Rose questioned but I just ignored her and continued to look at Nik, his face still hadn't altered and I was worried.

"Nik?" I questioned softly as my eyes welled and his face finally softened.

"It'll be alright, the doctor said it won't be long until they are healed and then you can get back in the gym okay?" I nodded as he leaned over and kissed my forehead.

I turned my head and looked at where Rose and Dimitri were still standing, I had no idea how they were going to react.

"I just want to forget what happened, I want to move on with my life. Talking about it and telling everyone what happened doesn't seem like moving on to me." I spoke bitterly.

"You are going to have to talk about it eventually or don't you want to be a Guardian?" Dimitri questioned but I shook my head.

"I have a target on my back, why would I want to put anyone in risk of that? Why would I risk James, he is a Spirit user and they are so rare. Just by the rumours alone we have gathered enough to believe that I'm incredibly different and special. Why would I risk a Spirit user because of something I want to do?"

"We all have targets on our backs Dri, the Strigoi want us all. They want to eradicate us all."

"But I've also got Moroi after me as well, I can't put James at risk of that. He should have two Guardians who don't have people wanting to kill them." I snapped at them.

"Dri you can't know what James wants, he agreed to take you on as his Guardian come his graduation. We know he visited you at least once, we have to assume he knows what's going with you and what they wanted. Don't you think he would now understand the risk of having you as his Guardian? If he did know that risk and he didn't want you wouldn't he have said something by now, but he hasn't Dri. Adrian is convinced he is still more than too happy to take you as his Guardian for the same reason he originally did, because he wants to be able to learn about Spirit like the rest of them including you." Rose spoke and I fell silent, I didn't know what to say in return.

Because the truth was, I was worried that James would say no and I could end up with some stranger that would want what Bradley and the others wanted and I could end up dead. I didn't want to put my family through that, I saw how relieved they all were when I returned home and I can't bear to think how they felt while I was missing.

 **A/N: Sorry about the very delayed update, I had writers block and was unsure as to how I wanted to proceed with Dri's recovery.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	53. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52**

Adrianna POV

"What time is your doctor's appointment today?" Nik questioned before softly kissing my head.

We were currently laying in bed before he had to get up and get ready for his shift today, I didn't want him to go to work today. He has had the last two days off and I've enjoyed it immensely, I hated that I was being selfish and always wanting him around, but I felt incredibly safe and protected around Nik.

"Late this afternoon and Dimitri said that if the doctor gives me the okay to be back in the gym he said he'll join me and help out."

"Okay so that is one thing sorted, when are you going to talk to a therapist?" I stiffened and I felt Nik shift me so I was facing him.

"Why are you so against talking to a therapist Dri?" Nik questioned softly and I just closed my eyes.

"Because I just want to get past it, my nightmares have finally stopped and I'm nowhere near as panicky when you leave for your shifts. Why can't that be enough to make people realise I'm past what happened?"

"Do you walk across the grounds by yourself? The only time you've seen Rose and Dimitri is when you've had to go to that side of the grounds for whatever reason, you are still refusing to receive your tattoos and when was the last time you saw Lissa or Christian? You have literally spent all your time since returning with either myself, Rose or Dimitri or Zoya since she returned."

"If I get my stupid tattoos will you be convinced I'm past everything?" I grumbled while attempting to roll over but Nik's grip on my waist prevented me from doing so.

"No because as much as you hate admitting it, I love you Dri. I know you incredibly well, you are trying to shut that part of you off in hopes of forgetting what happened. You need to deal with what happened properly by talking to someone, you need to realise that what happened was a freak accident. You need to stop blaming yourself for Clary's death because it could have been you instead of her that got fed off first, you saying your nightmares have gone is a lie. Dri you talk in your sleep sometimes." I stared at Nik for a moment.

"Let go…"

"Dri…"

"I said let go Nik." I hissed at him and his grip on my hips eventually lessened and I pulled away before getting off the bed grabbing pants on my way past and storming out of the apartment.

It wasn't until I was half way across the grounds that the panic set in, Nik was right. I hadn't really left the Guardian side of the grounds because I was terrified of what could happen, I was leaving a party heading home when I was taken with Clary. Couldn't the same thing happen again?

"Adrianna is that you?" I spun around at the sound of that voice and found Eliza standing there.

"Eliza, what are you doing back at Court? I thought you left after Clary's funeral." I still regret not attending Clary's funeral, but I couldn't leave Nik's apartment. I was way too scared back then.

"I had to return, I couldn't continue staying away knowing it's all your fault. You know it's all your fault, you couldn't even face me when I had to bury my daughter. If you hadn't of dragged her off to that stupid party she wouldn't have been taken, if you had of been the Guardian everything thinks you are because of your grades then my daughter wouldn't have been killed or taken in the first place! You're the reason I lost my daughter! You don't deserve to live anymore Adrianna."

And that was the part of the dream that caused me to wake up screaming in the middle of the night.

"Dri, it's going to be alright." I heard Nik's voice before he wrapped his arms around me and I twisted into him before I started crying against him.

Nikolaus POV

I admit there have been moments where I have been terrified in the past, the first time I came across a Strigoi, the time where I lost my brother, when Kass had told me that something bad had happened but she couldn't tell me what, moments when I thought I was going to lose my mother but nothing could prepare me for the moments that were regarding Dri.

I never expected to find love in my life, it wasn't something male Guardians got all that often. I was afraid when I first realised my feelings, when she was taken, even once she returned and I had to deal with all the repercussions of what happened while she was gone.

Aside from Dri refusing to get her tattoos or speak to a therapist, things had seemed fine for her. Majority of her bruises had disappeared, the one of her ribs were a yellowish colour making me think that maybe her ribs have finally healed completely so she can set foot in the gym again.

I thought her nightmares had stopped, she hasn't woken up in the middle of panicking for a while now, but her waking up screaming and in the process freaking me out, well I was absolutely terrified and I didn't know what to do.

I did the only thing I could do, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close while she cried herself to sleep.

I knew she did end up falling asleep at some point because she had stopped crying against me and I was able to get some more sleep even though I was terrified that she was going to wake up screaming again at one point.

My alarm woke me up and I was glad to see Dri still sound asleep, I quietly pulled away to shower and get ready for my shift. Dri had been bugging me for the last couple of days about being back in the gym, she has another check-up this afternoon to determine whether or not her ribs had healed properly and I promised her that if they had we could go to the gym. So of course I had to switch my shifts around to make it happen, but the look on her face was enough for the early start and lack of sleep to be worth it.

When I had finished in the bathroom I entered the bedroom to find Dri missing from the bed, I panicked a little but then I saw her walk through the door. She looked at me for a moment before looking away and climbing back into bed pulling the blanket over her head.

I wanted to laugh at how she was acting, but I couldn't not today anyway because she was embarrassed for what happened last night.

"Dri?" I spoke as I walked closer to the bed but I was met with a muffled response. "What was that?"

She sat up and pulled the blanket away from her looking at me for a moment, "I said leave me alone." I wasn't at all surprised when she laid back down pulling the blanket over her.

I walked over and sat on the side of the bed before gripping the blanket, "remember I'm stronger than you, are you really going to fight me on this?" I kept tugging on it lightly waiting for the moment her grip lessened and I was able to pull it away from her.

"How much sleep did you end up getting?" she frowned but I just leaned over and softly kissed her, I was grateful when I was finally able to kiss her without her panicking anymore.

"It doesn't matter, we're trained to work on less anyway. Are you going to talk about your nightmare?" she shook her head. "Dri, you were terrified about something. You need to talk about it."

"Are you mad at me?" her question shocked me, ever since she got back I've told her I'm not mad at anything she's been doing. Yes I hate that she refuses to talk to a therapist but I'm just worried about what's going to happen with her future because until last night with her nightmare she seemed like she was getting better.

"For your nightmare? God no Dri, I would never be mad at you for that. Why would you think that?"

"But you got barely any sleep, you can't go and work a shift on barely any sleep." She rolled away from me but all I did was lay down beside her and pull her close to me.

"And it's not the first time, I promise you I'm not mad at you for that. If you're really that worried I'm just in the office today anyway, nowhere near the boundaries."

"Still doesn't make me feel any better." She mumbled before pulling away from me.

"Look I have to leave otherwise I will be late and won't make your doctor's appointment, you still want me there yes?" she finally turned around and looked at me, I was partly afraid she'd say no but then she nodded. "Alright, do you want me to come back here or are you going to meet me there?"

"I'll meet you there…" her voice was so soft I barely her and it shocked me, normally she wants me to come back here and get her before we go anywhere.

"You sure?" she nodded. "Okay, well I will see you this afternoon then, I love you." She nodded again before I softly kissed her.

I gave her one last look before leaving the room hoping she would say something, anything else but she didn't, she just curled up in the bed before going back to sleep.

"She still not here?" I looked up at the sound of the doctor's voice and shook my head before looking at my watch.

Dri was almost 10 minutes late, I was so close to getting up and leaving in search of her but I wouldn't even know where to begin searching for her. There was a part of me hoping that she was still in the apartment and just too terrified to leave because the other thoughts I had were worse, I was terrified she was taken again.

I finally got fed up and left in search of her but as soon as I exited the building I saw Dri heading my way, "I'm sorry," her voice cracked as she walked over and put her arms around me, it was then I knew she wasn't okay.

"It's okay, are you okay?" she shook her head against my chest.

"No, I thought I would be fine. I thought I would be able to walk across the grounds in the middle of our day where so many people are present but I was scared something was going to happen but then I didn't want to ring you and tell you I was scared because I was afraid you would use it against me in hopes of me talking to a therapist. I don't want to talk to a therapist Nik, I just can't talk to a stranger about everything and I don't want to. Not yet." Her voice broke and I didn't know what to say, she just started to slightly crying against me and all I could do was hold her until she calmed down.

I pulled away from her and wiped away her tears, "Dri I would never use something like that against you, yes I want you to talk to a therapist but only because I know it will be good for you but I would never force you to because it can do more damage than good."

"Promise?" I was a little hurt that she had to question me like that but there was nothing I can do.

"I promise, now let's go inside and find out if you're allowed to be back in the gym." I was so glad to see a smile on her face at that. Everything, all my plans, ideas and actions are just so I can put a smile on her face.

I hate that she went through everything that she did and I knew it would take some time to heal from it all, I remember what Kass was like and what she had was one night. I just want Dri to get better and she just has to take it one day at a time and by me making her laugh and smile every day is enough for it happen.

Adrianna POV

"Please…" I was literally on my knees begging to Nik and he had a smirk on his face.

I had no idea who he was on the phone too, all he did was state that maybe our trip to the gym would have to wait and then he answered his phone. I of course cannot understand a single word of Greek and the bastard refused to teach me.

The doctor had stated that my ribs were now perfectly fine and I was allowed to get back into training, keeping in mind not to throw myself too far into that in case I did more damage than good. I of course completely blanked with the knowledge that the doctor had access to my records as well as what happened two years ago with me throwing myself into training and therefore leading to my eventual collapse on the gym floor.

The smirk was still placed on his face as he slid his phone into his pocket, "you coming?"

"Depends are we going to the gym?" I scrunched my face up at him, I didn't want to follow him if he wasn't going there. I was finally allowed in the gym and I will be damned if I didn't go there now.

He grinned at me, "of course, I told you we would if the doctor gave you the all clear." I scowled at him but he just laughed. "Who was on the phone?"

"My mother, but that is another conversation for another time." He linked his fingers through mine as we headed towards the gym.

"Back to basics okay? You might feel fine but you've been out of training for months now, the last thing you need is to attempt something that you won't be able to perform and hurt yourself. I want you to promise me now you won't do anything too advanced unless you've done it successfully with someone else," Nik had cupped my face, I was confused as to why he was making me promise this.

"But…"

"No buts Dri, just the other week you tried to flip me and couldn't. Before you were taken you could flip me no problems if I wasn't putting up any resistance. Don't you remember how weak and useless you felt when you realised it was impossible for you to do?"

"Yeah but what's your point?" I raised an eyebrow at him but he just laughed softly.

"The point is, if you did something else like lifting weights you used to it could backfire badly. Just promise me you will take it easy, like I said back to basics. Follow what Rose, Dimitri and myself put out there for you, even Damon and Josh when they return for Christmas break. Just not Zoya okay? I know she's family and you love her but she doesn't know you as well as the rest of us do, the boys know when you are pushing yourself too far. I don't want to go through the fear of losing you again." my heart broke at the sight of how hurt he looked, all I could do was nod.

"I promise." I finally spoke.

"Good, now let's start with Cardio and maybe if you're feeling up to it we can do some basic weights." He kissed my forehead before pulling away and I followed him back outside.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**

 **peggy** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I never planned on giving up on this story, as I stated massive writers block even now I am slightly struggling but I'm slowly getting through. It's just a struggle writing about Dri and her recovering from everything that happened and piece it together when the next part of her life.**

 **Reedy1012** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Thank you so much for everything you've said in your review, you don't understand how much that means to me considering in school with my English classes or basically any class where I had to write something I always struggled with that sort of thing. Writing fanfictions have really helped due to the constructive criticism along the way. I'm glad you can't describe how you feel when it comes to the emotions Dri is going through, it was my plan and hope when I wrote those particular gruelling chapters for many reasons.**


	54. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

Adrianna POV

"Stop moving," I grumbled against Nik but all I felt was the vibrations from his chest as he tried to hide his laugh.

We were currently lying in bed and I was grateful that we didn't have to get up any time soon, Nik wasn't working today and we had no plans. Well I had plans, my plans were to never leave this bed because my muscles were incredibly sore from my first session back in the gym yesterday.

I've been worried that Nik is going to start questioning what my nightmare was about, I wasn't ready to talk about it. I don't know how to tell how scared it made me feel to see him as angry as he was. I was hoping Nik never asked.

"I told you that you would be sore today but you didn't listen to me, I told you a hot bath would help but yet you refused to listen to me. You just wanted to go straight to sleep." He spoke before shifting both of us so we were facing each other and I reluctantly opened my eyes, I only saw him smirking for a second before I closed them.

"You wore me out," I complained before shifting closer into him ignoring the pain from my aching muscles.

"I would rather wear you out other ways," he spoke, his voice sounding horse and husky and my eyes instantly snapped opened and I stared at him taking in exactly what he said.

"I'm sorry Dri, I didn't mean for that to come out." Worry was etched on his face and I still had no idea what he was on about, but it wasn't until he shifted to get a better look at me that I felt it, the bludge in his boxers and I realised exactly what he meant, I couldn't help but laugh at him.

He scowled at me and I still couldn't stop laughing at him, it wasn't until he pulled away and went to get out of the bed that I realised my mistake.

"I'm sorry come back to bed," I finally stopped laughing and pouted at him.

"So me voicing, by mistake might I add, that I would love nothing more than be able to have sex with you again at some point and you laugh at me?" this time he pouted at me.

I sat up so I was kneeling on the bed before moving down so I was kneeling in front of him and I wrapped my arms around his neck before softly massaging his head.

"I'm sorry but it was a little funny, I'm incredibly grateful you are being understand with the whole no sex thing. I just can't yet." I spoke softly and he kissed me before placing his hands on my waist.

"I know Dri, it's why I haven't said anything before now. I'm waiting until you are ready, I won't force you." He rested his forehead against mine and I smiled.

"Come back to bed then?"

"Only if you tell me about your joy ride," he questioned and I was curious about how he found out about those.

"Which one?" I grinned at him as he raised an eyebrow at me and I laughed. "Oh you thought it was only once, I can tell you we had a lot of fun sneaking in and grabbing the cars." I continued to grin at him as I pulled away and curled back up under the blankets waiting for him to join me.

"Why did you think it would be a fun thing to do?" he questioned as he climbed in beside me and I shifted so my head was laying on his chest.

"The first time, I was petrified for the amount of trouble I would get in once caught. It was the summer before freshman year and the novices going into their senior year that summer were worried that I would blab about the parties and what we got up to, they asked me to grab some of the vehicles keys so we could go for a ride. After that, I knew it was fun and had fun doing it."

"Any Moroi?"

"God no, we weren't that stupid. It was only novices that ever took off, it's partly why we were never badly punished. We always took off when the sun was up so the Strigoi couldn't get us and we didn't leave the car, we left the grounds drove around for an hour or two before coming back." I lifted my head up to look at him and he was shaking his head with a small smile.

"Do I really want to know about the things the students can get up to while I'm here?" I laughed before lying back down.

"All I can say is good luck with that and I won't tell you. It's a sworn secrecy, the only reason you know about the joy rides is because someone blabbed. I never even told my friends." his hands came around and were placed on my face.

"Are you feeling alright? You kept secrets like this from your friends? I suppose if they knew one of the academy's vehicles would have gone missing." I laughed again before shifting around so I could face him properly.

"Any secrets you haven't told me?" I teased him, knowing there was still so much we haven't told each other but when a serious expression appeared on his face I was worried. "What is it?" I pulled away from him and he scrubbed his face.

"You wanted to know why I was sent to the academy last year, do you still want to know?"

"I just assumed you lost your Moroi like everyone else," he shook his head and it was then I was god damn curious.

"My Moroi is very much alive, I still have to face him every time I visit my mother. He's past it enough that he doesn't prevent me from seeing my mother and I was never charged with anything but I was taken off Moroi rotation for the time being, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a permanent thing." I pulled away from him completely, I have no idea what he did and I don't know if I like where this is going.

"What did you do?" I growled at him, instantly annoyed at myself when I saw hurt flash through his eyes before his whole face hardened up.

"If you're going to hate me before I even told you what happened, I don't see the point." I couldn't believe at how cold and angry he sounded.

I sat there dumb funded as to what just happened as he got climbed out of the bed and got dressed before leaving the apartment, I heard the door slam behind him and that was when the tears welled up in my eyes.

I buried my head in my knees as the tears fell, I didn't mean to react like I did. I don't even know why I did but he wouldn't even let me explain or explain himself.

I felt the bed dip beside me as arms came around me, "Nik?" I questioned without lifting my head.

"Nope better," I heard Damon's mixed English accent and my head instantly snapped up and I saw both Damon and Josh sitting on the bed with me.

"What are you doing here?" I sat up and wiped away my tears and they moved around and sat on the bed properly.

"Izzy and Eric's Christmas break has started so we're back here for the time being, we're flying out to see their families two days before Christmas."

"We came to see you but a very pissed off Nikolaus happened to open the door before we could even knock, he slammed the door but didn't lock it so we could come in." I stared at Damon and Josh, I still couldn't believe what they were doing here. I haven't seen them in so long.

"I've missed you," I spoke softly but all they did was laugh before leaning over and hugging me and I gladly hugged them back.

"Have you spoken to Bri?" Damon questioned when he pulled away and I nodded.

"When we can, it's harder for her because she isn't friends with her Moroi and I've constantly got people breathing down my neck."

"Speaking of necks, why don't you have your tattoos?" Josh questioned and I instantly lowered my gaze, I was hoping they didn't notice.

"I refused…" both of their mouths fell open and I wanted to laugh at their actions but it couldn't come out.

"Why?" I shook my head at Damon's question, Nik hadn't even questioned why I refused, he has left it alone. "Dri tell us, we've never had secrets."

I took a deep breath before resting my head on my knees, "I was the only one that came out of it alive, Clary was killed and there was some other poor innocent girl in there as well. She was in there for weeks, constantly screaming, she never stopped until one day it did and she was dead. Everyone died and I was the only one left alive by some pure miracle, I can't get the tattoos that represent the deaths of Clary and that poor girl." Tears fell from my eyes and Damon instantly moved so he had an arm wrapped around me.

"Dri a lot of Guardians have the tattoos that represent the death of someone else, it's just a part of the future we don't get a say in. We know this, we've been raised to know that our future is mostly out of our hands. The only say we get is the friends and family we keep, you've got Nik who has stuck by you through everything. There were moments when he rang us and there was minutes of silence because he had to stop and walk away for a moment, the phone was always on speaker so we could all hear what he was saying and hear him when he returned."

"I know Bri told me but what is your point."

"My point is, after everything his stuck by you but yet we just witnessed that. What the hell happened?" I shook my head grateful that we have moved away from the topic of my tattoos.

"I messed up, he was telling me why he was sent to St Vladimir's in the first place. I didn't mean to sound as angry as I did and that's when he lost it, he thought I hated him before he even told me what happened."

"What did happen?"

"I've got no idea Josh, all I know is that he may be permanently off Moroi rotation."

"That's why he's at Court, we just assumed Hathaway and Belikov had some pull and had him stay here in hopes of him helping you."

"Not at all, I knew he was staying before you all left."

"Interesting, wonder what really happened. You know you have to apologise?" Josh spoke and I nodded before taking a deep breath.

"I know I do but he just sounded so angry, I don't know where to begin or even where to find him. I barely leave the apartment." I spoke softly while attempting to push my tears back.

"Speaking of leaving the apartment you are coming with me, get dressed." Damon demanded and I raised an eyebrow at him before looking at Josh.

"Oh I'm not involved in this at all, I want no part." Josh held his hands up and now I was really curious.

"If you trust me Dri, you would get dressed and come with me somewhere today." I always hated it whenever Damon and Bri through the whole if you trust us you will willingly follow us without instructions.

I let out a groan before getting out of the bed and having a quick shower so I could follow Damon, to whatever he had planned for us. Josh said a quick bye with the promise of seeing me another time.

"What the hell are we doing here Damon?" I hissed at him the moment I realised where he took me.

"You said you trust me, we've never had secrets. Nothing you can say in there will cause me to judge you, I know the true nature of the meeting about you and Nikolaus was kept from Josh and I but I'm assuming Nikolaus felt something towards you because of how quickly things happened between the two of you and I still don't care. I can tell he cares deeply for you and that's all I want for you, is your happiness but right now, you need to heal, you need to move on from what happened and the only way it will happen is if you talk to someone about it. You went through so much and bottling it up, refusing to talk to anyone won't help. I'm not forcing you to do this because I want you to become a Guardian again, I'm doing it because I love you and I'm worried about you."

"You and Bri have been talking behind my back." I snapped at him but all he did was wrap his arms around me, I refused to return the hug.

"We have, but only because we love you and are worried about you. If Bri was at Court she would be here forcing you to do this as well. This is the next step and it's needed, I will sit there beside you holding your hand the whole time if it's what you want but you will go in there."

"You're going to have to carry me in there." I grumbled, hoping he wouldn't hear me but when I was picked up and thrown over his shoulder, I knew he heard me.

When he sat me down on the couch I crossed my arms and glared at him but all he did was sit down beside me.

"Adrianna I'm glad you could make it," I didn't even turn to look at female that the voice belonged too, I didn't want to be here and I couldn't believe Damon forced me too.

I also couldn't believe that both Damon and Bri organised this behind my back, I couldn't believe they did this and I couldn't believe Josh couldn't convince them it was a stupid idea.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	55. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54**

Adrianna POV

"Here at least talk to her," I glared at Damon as he held out his phone, I grabbed it before unlocking the door and walking in.

"I hate you and can't believe you did that." I snapped into the phone just in time to see Nik standing there looking hurt.

"What?" he questioned and I think at first he thought I was talking to him.

"Not you Nik, I was talking to Bri. Bri I hate you and you owe me." I handed Damon his phone and he nodded at me before walking down the corridor laughing about something with Bri.

We stood there looking at each other neither of us saying anything, I wanted to apologise for sounding so angry before he even told me what happened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be as angry as I was. I was more annoyed that you didn't tell me, for a year I had been trying to get out of you what happened because it sounded like a damn mystery and I wanted in. You had all summer before I was taken to tell me but you still hadn't, they hate pulling Guardians off Moroi guarding if they can help it so it must have been something pretty bad but I know you. I doubt you would have done something without thinking, you must have had a good reason to do whatever it was you did." I spoke as I carefully took a step forward until I was standing in front of him and I looked up at him.

"I know and I'm sorry I stormed off, I partly regret what I did so bad. I could have been in much worse trouble then what I am, but I still stand by what I did and I don't regret that part of it. I also don't regret how it brought me to you." He cupped my face before softly kissing me and I instantly smiled into the kiss before wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I questioned softly and he nodded before grabbing my hand and leading me over to the couch before pulling me onto his lap.

"I was paired with a Moroi that was related to my mother's charge, we were lucky, we were able to see each other regularly. The families were taking a holiday and we were attacked, it was eerily similar to what happened when I lost my brother. I snapped once the Strigoi were dead because my Moroi happened to push my mother's partner's child in front of them and in turn that child died. I turned on my Moroi and beat the living daylights out of him, it took both my mother and her partner to pull me away before I killed him. I was taken off Moroi rotation because I turned on my Moroi, I caused harm instead of preventing harm." I twisted in his arms and looked at him in shock.

I could tell he was worried, he was worried what I would think of him but honestly it doesn't change anything. He did what he did for a reason, yes he went against everything we grew up believing but if we were humans. There would be nothing wrong with beating up someone who was the reason as to why an innocent child was dead.

"Dri…?"

"I don't hate you, don't ever think I hate you. So you snapped, an innocent child is dead because of a selfish Moroi. You didn't kill anyone, the Moroi deserved it and I agree you got lucky with your punishment but either way you need to learn to stop beating yourself up because of it. You've told me before to look on the positive side of things, the positive side of this is that we got to meet. If that never happened you wouldn't have been at St Vladimir's." I smiled at him before snuggling deeper into him.

"Thank you." He kissed the top of my head. "You need to stop beating yourself up as well, you can't keep blaming yourself for what happened. You couldn't have prevented Clary's death, it was either you or her."

"Damon and Bri conspired against me to drag me to therapy, that's why I was telling Bri I hate her when I walked in." I spoke softly and all he did in response at first was kiss the top of my head again.

"Did it help?"

"Nope, but it didn't make things worse. I'm going back in a couple of days though."

"If I had of known dragging you there against your will would have worked, I would have done it weeks ago." Nik teased and I pulled away to glare at him but he just laughed. "Oh come on, you and I both know if I dragged you there it wouldn't have worked for me. Damon and Bri are different, you would have been so happy seeing them you would have done anything for them, even this."

"You aren't mad?" I questioned, honestly surprised he didn't sound annoyed because he has been bugging me about therapy for weeks.

"Not at all, I actually gave them the idea hoping at least one of them could be here over Christmas."

"That's why they all came out here instead of going straight to Izzy and Eric's parents'." I grumbled before pulling away and headed towards the kitchen.

"And now you're mad at me?" Nik spun me around so I could face him and I shook my head.

"I just hate being forced to do something I'm not ready for."

"I actually believe you were ready for it, it's why you didn't storm out but you were just so set on not going you stopped thinking about it."

"That's not true…"

"Yet you're going back in a couple of days."

"We'll see what happens…" I shrugged before pulling away from him. I heard him let out a sigh as I headed towards the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, he nodded and I threw one at him before grabbing another.

I stood there leaning against the counter and he walked closer to me, he didn't stop until he was standing directly in front of me.

"Just don't stop going Dri, I know how well therapy can work. I saw one after I lost my brother, this will help you get over whatever guilt you have left regarding Clary's death. I know you went through so much while you were taken but this will help, it will help you get over your guilt and let you move on with your life. You know the final step is to get your tattoos right?" he reached around and softly rang his fingers over the spot where my tattoos should be.

"Maybe as your Christmas present," I teased him and he laughed for a second before he stopped and his face became serious. "What is it?"

"My mother wants me to come see her over Christmas…"

"Then do it, you haven't seen her in a year." He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me, hoping to detect something.

"I won't go if you don't want me too, I'm glad you're seeing a therapist but I know how you can be Dri. You were panicking when I left for my shifts to begin with, I think a part of you still panics but the reason you don't react like you used to is because of two reasons, one you want me to believe you are perfectly fine and two you know I will come back in a few hours. I will be gone for three weeks, are you going to be okay with that?"

"I have to be don't I? I can't continue to be this needy girlfriend, if I was never kidnapped we probably wouldn't be living in the same apartment, I would continue to have the one downstairs. My family is returning for Christmas and…I can live with Rose and Dimitri if I'm that worried about being alone and plus Damon and Josh are here until Christmas Eve, you should go see your mum. You don't get to see your family as often as I do…and…I can't take that from you." I had to keep taking deep breaths, I had to make it seem like I was fine with him leaving.

I needed him to believe me because I knew if he thought I would be a complete mess without him here then he wouldn't leave and I will not be that girlfriend. I put on a brave face because I knew he missed his family.

"Dri are you sure, because one word and I can stay? If it wasn't for the fact that I know you would panic the minute we left the wards I would ask you to come with me."

"It's fine, I promise I will be fine. You should go see your mum," I gave him a smile as he softly stroked my jaw with his thumb.

"Okay, I love you." I nodded and he pressed his lips against mine.

"When do you leave?"

"A couple of days," my stomach dropped with that.

"Why am I only hearing about this now?" I snapped at him and he frowned placing both of his hands on my neck.

"Because I didn't even think it would be possible without you stepping foot into your therapist's office, you've been in such a good mood lately with you being able to be back in the gym and having some of your friends back here. I wasn't planning on going but seeing just how close you are to being back to normal I thought it would be possible, I still wouldn't do it if you didn't want me to leave you here alone."

"I've already said this, you should go. I will be fine." I pulled away from him and headed down towards our bedroom with the idea of getting changed and heading towards the gym.

Nik wrapped his hand around my wrist to stop me from walking out the door, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just want to go to the gym." He raised an eyebrow at me. "I promise I won't push myself, nothing more than what we've already done and I'm pretty sure I can get Damon and Josh to join me."

"Okay," he softly kissed me before letting go of my wrist and allowing me to leave the apartment.

Except I didn't have to call Damon and Josh to ask them to join me at the gym because when I entered I found the two of them sparing, but they both stopped when they noticed me walk over and join them.

"Everything alright Dri?"

"No, I still hate you." I snapped at Damon and Josh laughed before wrapping an arm around his neck.

"I told you she would hate you."

"Oh go fuck yourself Josh," I watched as Damon and Josh began fighting it out while I laughed on the sidelines.

It wasn't until they realised I was laughing at them that they turned on me and started coming my way.

"Woah, hold up there. I'm on light training, think of me like a poor little freshman." I looked at them innocently but it still didn't stop them from running at me and I had no choice but to turn and run.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I give up, please don't hurt me!" I screeched as I was pinned to the floor, they shared a look before they both started tickling my sides and I had no choice but to squirm underneath them as I tried to get away but it was no use, they were stronger than me.

I was completely out of breath by the time they stopped tickling me and I was grateful, I was able to catch my breath.

"So what are you doing in here? I figured you would have stayed away from me and with Nik, he looked really hurt when I left." Damon got off and sat beside me while I sat up.

"He thought me saying I hate you to Bri was for him, once I told him it was aimed at Bri and not him he was fine. I found out what happened though, it's pretty bad."

"How bad? Could it get you in trouble being with him?" I shook my head.

"No, I can't be dragged into it. He basically went against everything we've been taught by turning on his Moroi, if it wasn't for all his Strigoi kills he would most likely be stuck behind a desk." I spoke, Nik didn't say I couldn't tell my friends but I could trust Damon and Josh, I knew they won't tell Izzy and Eric.

"You're not mad at him for it?" Josh questioned.

"A little but there's more to it that is definitely not my place to tell and I understand why he did what he did. But after everything that I've been through he has stuck by my side, he deserves the same treatment."

"He stuck by your side because he loves you, do you love him?" Damon questioned and I didn't know how to answer that. It was something I've been wondering myself the last couple of days but had still yet to work it out completely.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and has set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please review!**


	56. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55**

Adrianna POV

The sound of a slamming door startled me awake, I couldn't prevent the scream that escaped as I shot up in the bed.

I quickly looked around and noticed I was still at home and Nik came running into the bedroom.

"Crap, Dri I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He walked closer to me and I instinctively crawled further back on the bed.

At my movements he stopped walking and stayed standing at the end of the bed watching me, I couldn't help the panic that was in me. I took a deep breath before getting up on my knees and crawling to the end of the bed.

"What's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around his neck when I was kneeling in front of him, I watched as relief washed over his face.

"I honestly didn't mean to scare you, I didn't realise you would still be in bed. My family is just on my back at the moment, nothing to serious and nothing for you to worry about." He gave me a smile before kissing me.

"When do you leave?" I questioned softly and he didn't look happy.

"Now, I literally came here to get my bags before heading to the cars. This is your last chance to tell me again how fine you will be without me," he smirked and I shook my head, worried when it fell. "Dri you slipped back into old habits because I slammed the door in anger, you know I will never hurt you."

"I know I trust you, I promise I will be fine. Go and see your mum, Rose and Dimitri have already said they don't have a problem with me spending three weeks with them."

"You trust me but yet when I tried to comfort you, you pulled away from me, you moved further down the bed away from me. How much of this do you expect me to take?" his hands fell from my waist and my mouth fell open.

"You said you loved me, you said nothing would change. This whole time you've been telling me you understand and that I'm healing!" I snapped at him.

"You refuse to talk to me, I can't even make one goddamn mistake without you freaking out. I slammed the bloody door in anger and you freak out thinking I was the one coming to hurt you, excuse me if I'm not allowed to be annoyed at the fact that my girlfriend is punishing me when all I'm trying to do is be supportive and be there for her." He snapped back before pulling away completely and grabbing his bag before leaving me alone with what he just said.

I wiped away my tears before packing my own bags, if that asshole was going to be like that then fine. He can be an asshole that doesn't hear from his girlfriend for three weeks.

I let out a groan before grabbing clothes and packing them, still not sure if I want to come back here and be alone.

I've lied, every single time Nik asked me if I was okay with him leaving.

I'm not okay, I admit I still have my issues and I shouldn't have reacted the way I did when Nik entered the apartment the way he did. He's entered the apartment before in angered and slammed the door, it wasn't something I should hold against him but I couldn't help the reaction.

But I can't be the needy girlfriend that complains every time her boyfriend leaves, I needed to be fine. I've never been this dependent on people before, hell I'm meant to be a freaking Guardian that can take out Strigoi…

That's right, I have taken out Strigoi. I've killed three.

It was with that thought that I reached around and scratched the back of my neck, the same spot where the tattoo that stated I was a Guardian should be, I had graduated and even been put on hold for a Moroi.

I arrived at Rose and Dimitri's and found Rose sitting in the office they shared, it was a funny sight because the two sides couldn't be more different.

"I want my tattoos." I stated before she had even looked up at me.

"I'm sorry what did you say Dri?" she shook her head.

"I said I want my tattoos, I'm not a Guardian, I'm a scared girl. Dhampirs are taught to grow up to be Guardians and take on Strigoi. Why am I the one that is terrified to get something to represent something we all have to do?"

"Because you went through a lot, within months of your Graduation. I can understand where you are coming from."

"Then how come you easily got your tattoos? Why didn't you refuse them?"

"Eddie said that Mason wouldn't want me to be like that, he would want me to continue on with life, become what he has always want to be, to be what we trained so hard for."

"Why hasn't someone told me this?"

"Because you went through more than I what I did, I wasn't fed off, I wasn't beaten regularly and I sure as hell wasn't raped. We had so much trouble just trying to get you to do normal tasks, you aren't cleared for working yet so there was no point in forcing you to get the tattoos."

Silence fell between the two of us and I walked over to take a seat in Dimitri's chair facing her.

"So once I was cleared to be a Guardian I would have been forced to get them?" I questioned and she nodded, I took a deep breath and threw my head back against the chair and placed my hands over my face. "Dri it's not so bad, you've only just started seeing the therapist…wait what happened with Nik?"

I lifted my hand and looked at her, she was concerned. I took another breath before sitting up.

"He was mad at something, slammed the apartment door behind him on the way in. It startled me and I panicked, it then led to an argument before he stormed out to leave for his flight." My eyes welled up and I spun around to look away from the look I knew Rose would give me.

"He's just frustrated, he's really worried about leaving you and you refuse to talk to any of us. You've been trying to convince everyone as well as yourself that you will be fine without him here."

"I can't be that needy girlfriend that stops him from having a life…"

"I know Dri, I understand. Just wait until he lands and then call him, give both of you time to cool off and apologise. Maybe take him being in another country as a step to opening up to him, I know Bri was the first one you opened up to." I nodded before standing up and leaving the office.

"Thanks Rose…" I didn't stay long enough to hear a response from Rose, I just went straight to the guest room.

I was pacing the guest room, just give him five more minutes, only five more minutes. Five more minutes should be enough time right? Enough time for him to settle in wherever he is staying, according to the time he should have landed an hour ago, what's five more minutes?

"Crap…" I muttered as I dropped my phone, it ringing had startled me. I saw it was Nik ringing me and I answered.

"Hi."

 _"Hi yourself, how are you?"_

"Pretty shitty, I made my boyfriend mad before he disappeared for three weeks." I smiled at the sound of him laughing.

 _"He would have to be idiot to walk away from a beautiful girl like you when it's obvious she's moments from crying. I'm really sorry Dri."_

"I know, I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have been afraid like I was, I do trust you and I know you won't hurt me."

 _"If you want I can come home early, I don't have to spend the whole three weeks here. I can come home and be with you."_

"Don't Nik, I will be fine I promise and I have a surprise waiting for you when you get home," I spoke seductively and I automatically heard the intake of breath he took.

 _"Oh really? Is it you naked in my bed?"_

"You perve, you just have to wait and see." I laughed at him.

We continued talking on the phone for a bit longer before he had to go and I was glad we worked out what happened before he left.

"Dri!" I heard the two voices call my name before two bodies were thrown at me and I couldn't help but groan in complaint.

"Get off you snot nosed brats," I complained before both Matt and Nate pulled themselves away from me and sat at the end of the bed, as much as I was annoyed they threw themselves at me like that, I had really missed my brothers.

There were times I really wanted to see my brothers while I was away but I don't think they knew the extent to my disappearance so I had to wait until Christmas break and now they're here.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned, I couldn't believe just how happy I would be at the sight of my brothers.

"Dad managed to organise a flight for us first thing after classes had finished," Nate spoke with a smile on his face while Matt looked a little bit more concerned while looking at me

"Dad mentioned how you could do with the company, so you wouldn't feel so lonely. Why are you at Rose and Dimitri's and not your own apartment?"

"Just bad memories, nothing to worry about." I shook my head at them as I leaned over to hug them.

"Are you scared Dri?" Nate questioned, shocking me and I froze not sure how to respond. "Because the bad man got you here where we are meant to be safe."

"Yes Nate, I'm scared, but I promise you I'm getting better. Nik's just on a holiday and I didn't want to be alone in the apartment but you two are here and now I won't be so lonely." I grinned at him and looked over at Matt, there was a strange look on his face before it was gone and he gave me a small smile.

I'm just glad that all my bruises are gone, I wouldn't want to worry my brothers with something like that. It's bad enough that they knew I was gone to begin with but there is nothing I can do about that, I just have to make sure nothing happens again because I hate seeing my brother's upset, distressed, worried…basically any negative emotion. I want them to be happy and carefree because they're young and deserve it.

"Okay, well I'm just glad you are home Dri. I was so worried about you."

"You were worried about me? Come on, I was the top ranking novice last year." I scoffed making Nate laugh and Matt shook his head.

"Don't be an idiot Nate, Dri is still the same idiot sister who believes it's fun to steal cars." Matt joked and I was glad I had eased both of their worries about me, I was still unsure just how much they knew.

"Alright enough picking on your older sister who is stronger than you, what are your plans for the day?" I questioned and they instantly grinned at me before getting on their knees begging for something.

"Video games?"

"No way, I hate those." I grumbled.

"Please….." they both begged together and I could see myself giving in any moment.

I eventually caved and they both grabbed an arm before dragging me across the grounds to play video games with them.

Nate had ran off to the kitchen to get some snacks and drinks and Matt turned to face me.

"So you're still with Nik?" I nodded and he didn't look happy. "I don't like it."

"Why Mattie?"

"Because he was your teacher, you've seen everything Rose and Dimitri have been through because of their relationship."

"But nothing happened when Nik was my teacher Mattie, dad supervised nearly every one of my sessions once our feelings for each other were out in the open. People will only be annoyed because of how we meet and we mostly kept inside so no one knew anyway."

"Can't you get in trouble for it anyway?"

"No, all people who are important enough to ruin us know about our relationship and the extent of it. I will be fine."

"Good because I saw how happy you were with him during the summer and I don't want you to lose that." I smiled at him as Nate came running back in with his arms full of food causing Matt and I to laugh at him.


End file.
